CARLTON continues to investigate the causes behind its second-half fadeouts this season, but the club remains confident the concerns are outweighed by the positives of an impressive 4-1 start.
The Blues have been forced to survive a series of late fightbacks from opposition teams throughout their opening to the year, recording three of their four victories by just 12 points or less.
The Western Bulldogs trimmed a 37-point deficit back to 12 points, Hawthorn cut a 41-point margin back to a solitary point, while Port Adelaide got to within two points having trailed by 50 points on Sunday.
The majority of the damage has been done immediately after half-time, with the Blues being outscored by a whopping 104 points in third quarters throughout the first five games this season.
But assistant coach Ash Hansen believes the group is taking encouragement from putting itself in solid positions, then holding firm to record victories when the momentum has switched after the main break.
"As a coaching group, we want to support the players in understanding the 'why' behind it," Hansen said.
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"You can look at it two different ways. The first way is that we've put ourselves in those positions, which has been really encouraging. Our starts have been strong and when we're playing the style that we're encouraging them to do, they're doing it extremely well.
"But then we're holding on really late in games. I know our fans wouldn't appreciate that, but that's really encouraging to see. The group is buying in and digging in when they have to, to get the results we want.
"We're just not playing our style for long enough and we're having those inconsistencies, but as a young group that's working towards a destination at the end of the year I'm confident we'll get there."
Carlton senior coach Michael Voss said after last Sunday's thrilling victory over Port Adelaide that several tactics had been trialled at half-time so far this year, in order for the team to retain the momentum after the interval.
Hansen wouldn't elaborate on exactly what those tactics entailed, but said the club would continue focusing on ensuring it played to its strengths throughout the entirety of matches in the future.
"We'll keep it in-house a little bit," Hansen said.
"It's always that balance between empowering the players and finding out what is going to work, because some of the things can be placebos. You try things and even if they think they're working, they can turn it around.
"I think there's just patches in games where we've got to play better for longer. Generally, there's always going to be a response. It's come off the back of really strong first halves, where we've put ourselves in a dominant position.
"Teams are going to respond and we have to be able to understand that and get in that armwrestle."
Carlton is likely to regain skipper Patrick Cripps from a minor hamstring injury for Saturday night's clash with an in-form Fremantle, just one week after injuring himself during the side's solitary loss for the season against Gold Coast.
The Blues will arrive in Western Australia on a charter flight later this week, with the club holding no concerns that the long-distance trip will impact Cripps' chances of making a speedy return.
"He's got to get through training this week," Hansen said.
"He'll still be a test, but we're optimistic. We've got two sessions ahead and if he gets through those, he'll come under consideration for selection.
"He has (made good progress). That's why we were optimistic at the start, because he played out that quarter. It was a conservative approach, but it'll be a training-based decision."
