Carlton head coach Michael Voss has said there is not a “silver bullet” to fix the club’s second-half blues, following three successive fade-outs to start the season. 

Melbourne completed the club’s fifth-largest comeback in its history last Sunday when it overcame a 43-point deficit to defeat Carlton by 23 points. 

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Carlton’s late-game fade was the latest in a trend of fade-outs across the opening three matches. 

The Blues held a narrow lead at half-time in its opening match against Sydney, before the Swans kicked 12 goals in the third quarter alone to blow the match open. 

Carlton held on for a narrow four-point victory over a young Richmond, after holding a 27-point lead at the main break. 

With one win and two losses, all of which involved sluggish second-half performances, the pressure has mounted on Voss and his team ahead of Friday’s clash with North Melbourne.

Speaking on Wednesday, Voss said he believed there was no one issue to explain his side’s struggles in second halves, but there was plenty of work going on behind the scenes to rectify it. 

“There’s no silver bullet. It’s through repetition and consistency that we get the change,” he said. 

“Then, when we get the action we need, I’m really confident that we can certainly change that very quickly.

“I certainly wouldn’t come into this game not thinking that can’t happen as soon as this weekend.”

After surrendering a 30-point lead in their 2023 preliminary final loss to the Brisbane Lions, expectations were high that Carlton was close to winning their first premiership since 1995. 

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The Blues scraped into the finals on percentage in 2024, then finished last season 11th with a record of nine wins and 14 losses. 

When asked if the players were hurting after last Sunday’s capitulation to the Demons, Voss replied: “I would hope so.” 

“I think we’re all hurting. I think we all can be quite aligned with that, whether it’s supporters, coaches, players,” Voss said. 

“I don’t think you can expect anything less than that. 

“But we have to turn that hurt into action.”

North Melbourne and Carlton play the first of two matches on Good Friday, with the match at Docklands Stadium beginning at 4:15pm AEDT.

AAP