Adelaide's chronic slow starts have their premiership credentials under question.
Both teams sit 1-3 thanks to their respective failures to deliver for four quarters.
Crows veteran Taylor Walker could at least see the funny side, joking to Carlton counterpart Harry McKay: "wanna swap, mate?" as the pair fronted up on Wednesday ahead of the AFL's Gather Round.
Carlton let leads slip against Sydney, Melbourne and North Melbourne, and just held on against Richmond - while Adelaide fell short against Fremantle, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs after slow starts.
Experienced Blues midfielder George Hewett paid the price at selection as he was dropped for Thursday's massive clash.
The Blues are without vice-captain Jacob Weitering (concussion), young defender Harry Dean (concussion) and Will Hayward (suspension), but regain Zac Williams and Nick Haynes while Hudson O'Keeffe comes in.
Adelaide regain Isaac Cumming, Rory Laird and Mitch Hinge, who plays his first game since a pre-season back injury, while Luke Nankervis has been recalled.
Luke Pedlar (concussion) misses out while Reilly O'Brien, defender Hugh Bond and Chayce Jones were dropped.
"Obviously win-loss wise, not the greatest start, but we're actually playing some really good footy for long patches of games, but just not been able to finish off. And in a win-loss industry, obviously, that's paramount," spearhead McKay said in Adelaide.
"But we're actually playing some good footy and just being able to do that for 120 minutes is the challenge.
"... But we're really confident that if we can fix that last little 10-20 per cent, that win-loss ledger will change."
McKay pointed to a strong third quarter against North as he stressed Carlton had been working to fix their second halves.
"(It's) something that's not going to necessarily change overnight, but I thought we took some pretty good steps forward, and then, like any game, it's just capitalising on our moments late," he said.
Walker said Adelaide were attempting to pick out reasons for their slow starts and fix them.
The Adelaide Oval clash will be the first time Carlton have faced the Crows in Gather Round since they copped a 56-point walloping in the inaugural event in 2023.
While publicly the Blues have backed Voss, that type of defeat could spell curtains for their coach.
McKay praised how Voss had "brought together" a new coaching group, executive and refreshed list.
"Vossy's been fantastic. Can't speak more highly of how he's gone about it. Much-loved," McKay said.
"... Obviously, on-field, a lot of it's player-based stuff, but we tend to go to the coach, which, I guess that's the industry."
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