This Sunday’s match against the Adelaide Crows offers Carlton another opportunity to test its system against a top-eight side.

As the Blues continue to grow and develop as a team, the clash with Adelaide will no doubt be another big challenge for Carlton, which currently sits 14^th on the AFL ladder.

The Blues suffered a disappointing loss to Collingwood last Saturday night, while Adelaide, which was challenged by Melbourne, ultimately took home the four points.

Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Carlton coach Brendon Bolton says trying to abate Adelaide’s offensive attack will be a key part of the game.

“It’s not just about match-ups down back, it’s about collective team defence and if they get enough supply that’s unpressured they’ll hurt any team,” Bolton said.

“We do know, particularly in the last six games, they’re (Adelaide) averaging in excess of 30 shots on goal, so we need a really good collective team defence effort this week.”   

It was a dramatic day the last time these two sides met, and a game many Blues fans would like to forget. It was the last time dual Brownlow medallist Chris Judd ran onto the field, with the champ suffering a career-ending ACL injury during the first quarter.

In that match, Carlton pushed the Crows all day, with Adelaide only walking away a nine-point winner in the end: Adelaide 14.15 (99) d Carlton 14.6 (90).

One player who played in that game for the Crows, Matthew Wright, will face off against his old side, along with fellow Blue Sam Kerridge and Crows Eddie Betts and Sam Jacobs.

In the lead-up to playing his former side, Wright says coming up against the Crows will be no different to any other week.

“I consider myself a Carlton player now and I’m really enjoying my time here,” Wright said.

“I’m sure there’ll be a few moments where there’ll be a few sledges coming from a few of my mates there, but that’s footy and that happens most weeks,” Wright laughed.

Over in Adelaide, Crows coach Don Pyke says the competition is so even that there’s no “easy games or light games”.

“I think they’re a really strong team, the results of recent haven’t been as good as what they were earlier in the year, but they’re well coached and they have a clear plan of how they want to play, and they’re playing good high-pressure footy,” Pyke told the media on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a strong contest and we expect nothing less on Sunday.”

The Blues have named Dylan Buckley, Andrejs Everitt, Nick Graham, Liam Sumner, Jason Tutt, Andrew Walker and Dennis Armfield on their extended bench for Sunday afternoon, while Adelaide has named Ricky Henderson, Jake Kelly, Wayne Milera and Paul Seedsman as inclusions for the injured Luke Brown.