AFL SENIOR Coach Michael Voss spoke to media in Perth ahead of the Blues' Round 14 clash with the Eagles.
Speaking on Sam Walsh, the last time the two sides met and "starting at zero", here's what Voss had to say.
On Sam Walsh’s foot injury:
“It’s not something we wanted to find out on the back of training, but we always knew it was a bit of a chance once you talk to the medical team. Hopefully you avoid these things, but unfortunately it showed a hot spot - he’ll take his five or six weeks and hopefully we get him back better and stronger.
“[No surgery], it’s more in the early stages which is why the timeline isn’t as long as what it could’ve been. We’re fortunate enough we caught it early, but all these things always come with inconvenient timing. It’s inconvenient for everyone, for him and for us.
“He’s a real pro: once he knows what he’s dealing with, he turns his mind into his rehab, how he can get better and how to get the most out of the situation. As a team, we have to turn our mindset, look at the opposition we’ve got and the playing group that will be turning up to hopefully get the job done for us.”
On Jaxon Binns’ inclusion:
"He’ll come into the team, he’s certainly been on the edges for more than a few weeks - he’ll be able to come in and get his job done. We’ll flip a couple of other magnets around, it’s by no surprise that you’ll see him play on the wing."
Sam Walsh will be sidelined for approximately 5-6 weeks, with confirmation this morning that a hot spot has been detected in his foot.
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) June 13, 2025
Jaxon Binns has been recalled into the 23 to take on West Coast tomorrow evening.
On what West Coast provide in opposition:
“Their form over the last month has been pretty good. In every game they’ve played, they’ve pushed sides. They look a lot more settled and there’s certainly a brand that’s emerging - there was a brand the last time we played them, but they look a bit more settled and have had a bit more time to play the game style they’re after.
“Like all games we play, we make no assumptions in this competition - we expect to get the very best of every team we play. I’d like to think that no matter where they sit in their development and how well they’re playing, it’s up to us to find our best.
“It starts at zero: that was the same when I played and it’s the same now, we step on the field with equal footing and the game determines where we go next. We’ve got to earn the right as a footy team.”
On drawing inspiration from 2023:
“We’re a sum of all of our experiences. Over the last three or four years, we’ve had great runs of momentum and we’ve had some really challenging times. Part of growing as a football team is growing with those experiences. What we’ve also learned through that is to take it a step at a time.
“If we start forecasting where we’ll end up and what happens next, that’s got danger attached to it. It’s about what’s important for the team, what’s the style of footy we want to bring and how do we do that over 120 minutes.”
On casting the mind back to a big win over the Eagles in Gather Round:
“Part of being professionals is finding the level of consistency, level of emotion and level of preparation. We turn our eyes in, we let other people make those assumptions - we make none of them. Every team we walk on the field, it’s about earning the right and that’s where we’ll start.
“You may spend time on where they were last time compared to now, and they’ve made advancements in their game which we have to respect while still playing the way we like.”
On Sam Docherty’s role potentially changing due to Walsh’s absence:
“Without divulging too many of those magnets moving, we’ve had a bit of change - you would’ve noticed our forward line changed quite a fair bit, we had four or five changes in there which we’re pretty keen to settle. We’ve had a fairly settled midfield and backline: we’ve got to be really careful of what pieces we take out of where to fix somewhere else or find another role to be played.
“We’ve got to have the balance of the cohesion we so desperately want while also being able to address some needs. We feel like we’ve got the squad to be able to get the job done, we’ve taken in the ‘next-one-in’ mentality to get it done.”
On Harry McKay:
It’ll be determined more early next week. We’ll do a bit more investigation, we were obviously hoping he’d be able to do a bit more this week than what he actually got done. I’ll probably put that one on hold until next week.
