Michael Voss during the round 10 clash between Carlton and Collingwood at the MCG on May 21, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

CARLTON coach Michael Voss says he understands that narratives will stem from the club's disappointing run of form, putting the onus on his struggling Blues to change those conversations.

The club continues to deal with the fallout from a dismal stretch that has resulted in six defeats from its past seven games, leading to on- and off-field controversies as the team's finals ambitions have gone up in smoke.

Blues board member Craig Mathieson quit earlier this week after a heated verbal exchange with president Luke Sayers following last Friday night's loss to the Swans, while captain Patrick Cripps was forced to take to social media to deny incorrect reports about him staying in a different hotel to teammates during their trip to Sydney.

Harry McKay then spoke openly about his goalkicking woes and the strain it was taking on several people at the club, while five enforced changes will need to be made ahead of Friday night's clash with Melbourne due to injury.

"We just understand that, as part of the landscape when you're not winning, there are going to be conversations. What we have to do is just make sure what's real and what's not real," Voss said on Thursday.

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"There are some things that maybe get interpreted about what should or shouldn't be happening, but we're really clear on what we need to be able to do.

"There's some things that we need to get after and we need to be able to correct. As a byproduct of that, hopefully that momentum then changes and those conversations change."

Mathieson's decision to resign from the board after 11 years has led to more off-field turmoil enveloping Ikon Park, with Voss saying he wasn't privy to the discussion that took place between the former board member and president Sayers in the changerooms after the loss to Sydney.

"There's obviously a lot of conversations around it," Voss said.

Former Carlton director Craig Mathieson. Picture: Carlton Football Club

"It doesn't change where our focus should lie. Over the course of the weekend, clearly there have been a lot of good and timely conversations that have been had and some solutions about what's needed moving forward for us. That speaks to some strong leadership, to be fair.

"Obviously, it needed to get addressed and it got addressed. Now we move on."

Carlton will make at least five changes for Friday night's clash with Melbourne due to Marc Pittonet (hand), Ollie Hollands (collarbone), Nic Newman (hamstring), Corey Durdin (knee) and George Hewett (concussion) going out of the team.

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However, despite the raft of injuries and the poor run of form, Voss reiterated his belief that Carlton wasn't far away from clicking and subsequently correcting its 4-1-6 record in the second half of the campaign.

"I don't think we're actually too far away. You're never too far away," Voss said.

"There are some things that we obviously need to get to work on. The message hasn't changed around our defence and giving ourselves opportunities. We gave ourselves those opportunities and we weren't able to finish our work last week.

"You walk away pretty clear around what you need to be able to work on. It's not something that just turns up, for us in terms of just one moment. We continue to work behind the scenes on what that looks like for us.

"The focus doesn't change for us. We still have to bring intensity in the right phase of the game and we're still going to make sure that we develop ourselves as a really strong defensive team. We build our game off the back of that."