https://www.afl.com.au/news/706135/blues-bullish-as-doc-eyes-incredible-early-season-returnQuote:
One new name who will play in a defensive role this season is Mitch McGovern, having approached Voss about the prospect of reinventing himself as an intercept player like his brother Jeremy.
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McGovern has several similar attributes to his brother Jeremy, who is a premiership-winning defender and a four-time All-Australian at West Coast, and has enjoyed a standout summer on the track at Ikon Park.
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"If I was confident about it at the start, I'm even more confident about it now. But we have some training to go off the back of that. When he first went in, he still had some physical hurdles to overcome. But we all see the attributes that he's got," Voss said.
"What's been really striking about 'Gov' is that he's had a real urgency in the way he's gone about his pre-season. He's been extremely motivated and he's done everything that's required to give himself the best chance to go out and play good football. That guarantees nothing, but it certainly gives you a hell of a good chance."
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McGovern's defensive move will give Carlton a timely boost following the retirement of Liam Jones late last year, but had already been in the works prior to the veteran's unexpected announcement.
"The Liam Jones decision had nothing to do with it," Voss said.
"It was in discussions with him and, giving it some more thought, it made sense. But he was well and truly along that path before I'd even had a chance to talk to him. As I chatted to him and it became clearer, he had a passion about it. That's what he wanted to do and we were happy to facilitate that."
Docherty Stocker McGovern in the mix for Round 1.
All earmarked for the backline along with Williams:
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It's unlikely that Docherty will be the only familiar face down back for Carlton this season, with former free agent recruit Zac Williams another expected to be lining up in a defensive role under Voss.
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Williams has continued to train as a defender under Voss, with the club's new coach open to the idea of using the 27-year-old in a variety of different positions but with a focus on providing rebound out of defence.
"I certainly don't want to take anything off the table, but if we had to pick a more predominant position it would be across half-back," Voss said.
"The beauty with Zac – and even with Mitch McGovern for that matter – is that they do have the capacity to play in different positions. If it's required, either on a weekly basis or throughout games, we have a few strategic levers that we can go with if we need to as a coaching group."
Then there's the usual candidates in Saad, Newman and Plowman to consider for the backline positions. And what about possible smokey in Boyd? Swingman Kemp??
The above are for 4 spots in the backline and not the 2 KPD spots to fill, one obviously by Weitering, the other is for Young and Oscar to fight out.
Pressure.
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