Brutal, bullying Blues: The historic stats behind Carlton's revival

FORGET about the Blues Brothers, these are the Blues Bullies.

Carlton's rapid and drastic turnaround in form has been led by a rotating cast of hardened, ruthless clearance winners in midfield. Their brutality has the Blues on the verge of September for the first time in a decade.

After six straight losses earlier this season, Michael Voss the coach was searching for ways to inspire a circuit-breaker. Even someone as decorated as Michael Voss the player would be proud of the way Carlton's midfielders have responded to the call.

In the resulting seven weeks, which have featured seven consecutive victories including wins over both of the top two in Collingwood and Port Adelaide, as well as fellow finals contender St Kilda, Carlton has put together an historic midfield run.

According to Champion Data, the club's stoppage scoring differential in that period (which currently stands at +269 points) is the most the AFL's stats gurus have ever recorded across a seven-week stretch. It's also well clear of Hawthorn in 2012 (+252 points) and both Hawthorn in 2014 and Melbourne in 2021 (+218 points) in second and third respectively.

Meanwhile, Carlton's overall clearance differential throughout that same run (which is currently +88) is the fifth-most ever recorded, just four behind Gold Coast in 2011 (+92) as the most recorded by Champion Data.

While the Blues' scoring profile across the entirety of the season (26.9 per cent from stoppage, 18.8 per cent from turnover) is slightly unbalanced, it does compare favourably with the AFL's best sides. Meanwhile, the club's last seven weeks (31.5 per cent from stoppage, 19.6 per cent from turnover) is even more balanced, despite the higher output from its midfield.

Top-four teams Collingwood (25.4 per cent from stoppage, 20.1 from turnover), Brisbane (22.8 per cent stoppage, 23.1 per cent turnover), Melbourne (25.4 per cent stoppage, 18.9 per cent turnover) and Port Adelaide (28.2 per cent stoppage, 20.3 per cent turnover) all score higher than Carlton from turnover, though only Port Adelaide also scores more than Carlton from stoppage.

For context, the last five premiers have averaged 23.8 per cent of their scores from stoppage and 20.6 per cent from turnover.

What's made Carlton's improvement undoubtedly more impressive has been the names missing during this period. Last Sunday, its team was without best-22 regulars Harry McKay, Mitch McGovern, Jack Silvagni, Jordan Boyd, Corey Durdin and Zac Williams. Its midfield alone was missing Sam Walsh, Adam Cerra and Matt Kennedy.

The depth has been tested, but the depth has stood up. A total of 16 of the 23 Blues players to have featured last Sunday have played VFL football this season. Not just because of varying fitness reasons, but also because of form.

Paddy Dow (10 VFL games), Lachie Fogarty (nine), Caleb Marchbank (six), Zac Fisher (six), Brodie Kemp (five), Alex Cincotta (four), David Cuningham (three), Jesse Motlop (three), Matt Cottrell (two), Tom De Koning (two), Ed Curnow (two), Ollie Hollands (one), Matt Owies (one), Jack Martin (one), Marc Pittonet (one) and George Hewett (one) have all found themselves playing at reserves level throughout the year.

The club's captain and reigning Brownlow Medal winner Patrick Cripps still led the way, gathering 11 clearances against St Kilda, but six of the side's nine multiple clearance winners came from that batch to have played VFL football this season.

The knock-on effect from the side's midfield improvement has subsequently been felt throughout the entire team, with Voss' outfit dramatically lifting in a number of significant statistical metrics.

Over the last seven weeks Champion Data notes Carlton is the No.1 team for points for, points against, scores from stoppage differential, clearance differential, groundball gets differential and goals per inside-50. The Blues also rank top-five for shot at goal accuracy and inside-50 differential.

That paints a completely different picture to when Carlton had lost six straight games, labouring at a dismal 4-8-1 record, and found itself entrenched inside the AFL's bottom-four at the halfway point of the campaign.

Then, the Blues ranked dead-last in the League for goals per inside-50 and shot at goal accuracy. They also ranked bottom-three for points for, and in the bottom half of the AFL for scores from stoppage differential, clearance differential and inside-50 differential.

The turnaround has been remarkable with Carlton now fifth on the AFL ladder, heading towards finals for the first time in 10 years and staring at its first top-eight finish in 12 years. All of a sudden, looking back isn't even on the radar at Ikon Park.

"What we're keen to tell is what our 'now' story is, not so much what happened last year or what happened six weeks ago. We're done with looking back. We're looking at now and we're looking forward," Voss said on Sunday.

"We take those lessons with us. Clearly, they come with us because you find yourselves in those situations again and when you find yourself thriving in those situations it comes from exposure. There's no other way.

"We've gone through a bit of that and we've gone through a bit of that together. That's our story that we tell. At the end of the day, we're just really enjoying where we're at and we just feel like we've got so much to gain and still so much left to give."