"We let ourselves down and we were beaten too much around the ball."

Senior Coach Michael Voss said Carlton wasn't able to play to its strengths in Saturday's 60-point loss to Adelaide. 

Here's what he had to say.

On the game as a whole: 

"We got some pretty good feedback around the things we need to be able to get right in our game, that we didn't get right tonight. What have been particular strengths in our game over the course of the full part of this season, we just couldn't get right tonight. So, it reinforces the strengths in your game that you need, but it highlights why they're important to you.

"But the reality was, even in the first 10 minutes of the game, our method around the ball wasn't good enough. We lost critical territory in the game, roles that we have valued, didn't get played well enough. And the rest of the game played our somewhat the same. In the 10 minutes I think we had five forward-half turnovers, and just being able to play simple things and do simple things, have simple plays, we weren't able to execute it.

"To Adelaide's credit, they applied the pressure for the entirety of the game, which continued to have us on the back foot and having to fight and chase and do things different to try and get the scoreboard ticking in a different way."

Adelaide's ability to score easily:

"The third quarter's probably a a great case in that, we came out and thought we had more of the way we wanted to be able to play. They kicked one stoppage goal, and then they might have kicked three centre-square bounce goals at the back end of the quarter.

"So, that all happens in three minutes and the work that was done to get us in a sound position and starting to take some things off the opposition, was impacted in three to four minutes. That's what made the night a bit harder, because every time we did feel like we got a grip on the game, it was ripped away through a play, or not being able to defend."

Belief within the group:

"I think there's enough evidence there and there's a body of work to see that the contest around our contest has been very strong for pretty much the entire season. The way we've defended has been pretty strong for the season, so having belief is about being able to have a body of work.

"We've got a body of work, so we didn't get it done tonight, but belief is built off evidence over time, and there's been some things we've been working on our game that we've been able to write in the last few weeks. But none of the phases came together today, it was hard work the whole day.

"So, we'll have to look at it pretty strongly and enormously disappointed with the performance, but we'll look at it clearly like we have every single week. We'll rock up Monday, we'll see the things we need to get better at. But I don't think we're going to have to go far to find out what that is."

Conceding goals from the centre:

"At the end of the day they certainly were able to get that ascendancy for a long period of time. But, I just don't think we defended very well.

"They were able to have their time with the ball, they were able to get valuable territory off important parts of the game, and when you're on your back foot and you're trying to generate a lot of your ball out of your back half, that's a huge ask across the game. You might get away with it once, but you don't get away with it too many times."

Reviewing the loss:

"We sit at the end of the game and I probably debriefed it more than what I traditionally have, because I think sometimes having the immediate feedback is something for all of us to reflect on. But then come in really razor sharp on when we review and move forward with we've got to get right this week against St Kilda.

"We let ourselves down and we were beaten too much around the ball. They went from inside to out really quickly on us, and and we weren't able to contain it."