FOLLOWING a tough loss in Western Australia, Carlton Senior Coach Michael Voss was proud of the fight that his side showed early on. 

Unfortunately, unable to hold on against the Dockers, the Blues fell away in the final term, but showed glimpses of what is to come in the future. 

Here's what Voss had to say. 

On the first half:

"I thought the boys were fantastic in the first half, probably some of the best football we’ve played this year. Appetite for the contest and probably the best pressure we’ve put on an opposition team.

"To be fair, I feel like we maintained that for most of the game, but like a mature side probably does -  a confident side that’s now on a bit of a roll - they were able to steady the ship and keep playing the same way and ask the question back of us.

"If you look at both teams, one had 88 tackles the other one had 85. Both teams were going at each other pretty hard, but maybe just a bit more consistent method, a bit more patience, taking your moments when you need to gets the game in the end.

"We end up losing the game with a few goals kicked late, there’s much us chasing five points or ten points down as it was, but they were able to close the game out very strongly and we couldn’t bridge that gap."

On the group still showing fight:

"With the season over, there’s a style of football we’re still trying to play and a lot gets talked about identity, what you want to see, and we’ll keep coaching it hard.

"We spoke about this a few weeks ago about finishing the season strong and I’m pleased to see that while the season has been taken away from us, as a competitor, the four points still matter to us.

"We get energised by that, and that’s the intrinsic motivation that we need to be able to get us ready for our next match, and that holds us in good stead for the future while we go through this period of time where we aren’t going to figure in the finals this year."

On the third quarter:

"I felt like the fight was still well and truly on and we had still two or three moments through that third quarter that we should’ve finished plays and we didn’t quite finish our goals.

"The question was being asked back at us, but I felt like we were still hanging in that fight. I think in previous games, we’d definitely be accused of not bringing the intensity and concentration that’s required when the opposition brings a bit of added pressure, for us to steady the ship.

"I don’t think that was the case tonight. I felt Fremantle really dialled it u,p and they adjusted a few things, took some territory around the clinches and we couldn’t defend it for long enough."

On the seesawing game:

"We were winning the centre square bounce and they were winning around the ground. The game probably swung based on that: the clearance and the territory.

"Around the ground, we were able to lose and they were able to score off the back of that after defending the stoppages really well in the first half.

"I felt like most of what we wanted, we got, the style of football we wanted to play, we were playing. In the second half, they got on top of us around clearance, and some of their better players started to will themselves at the ball, take the game forward a little bit harder and put us under pressure.

"We still had our opportunities, even late, we had our opportunities, but weren’t able to take them."

On the Cooper Lord Caleb Sarong match-up and the young crop: 

"I thought it was a really important match-up for us. It shows you the player he is, that he keeps churning away and the maturity of him.

"It was a good task for the young man to learn about his game, and we’ll get moments like that.

"I was really pleased with some of our younger players. I think we had six players under 25 games out there. Matty Carroll took some great moments, Lachie Cowan keeps growing, we talked about Cooper Lord and the role that he had on Serong, so we’ll keep giving exposure to these guys.

"We tried a couple of different things behind the ball as well as on the wing. We’ll keep exploring ways to get better as a football team and we’ll use that information - not just for now - but for the future. 

On Harry O'Farrell: 

"Unfortunately, it looks like an ACL for the young fella. Shattering news for us and for him. We’ve been so impressed with the young man, he’s going to evolve into a very good player for us, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that it doesn’t turn out to be that.

"We’re hoping a different result comes back, but the progress he’s made in his game since he turned up, he’s so slight, he’s not massive man yet, but his ability to read the game, he’s a natural footballer and the players just love playing with him because he’s super reliable.

"Over the course of time, he’ll learn his craft about what it’s like to be a key position player. He’s going to be a very good player for us. If we do lose him for that period of time, it’s a bit shattering for us. 

"The highs and lows of football. It has a great way to lift you up but a nasty way to bring you down as well.

"That resilience and grit that you learn over the time of your career, sometimes you get things when you don't want it to show up and this is what might show up for him.

"We’ll support him, we’ll wrap our arms around him and we’ve got a good one there. Forget about the player, we’ve got a great person and we’ll continue to have that at our Club."

On Elijah Hollands: 

"He’ll be back this week, he’s been hovering around the VFL doing a bit of that but he’ll be back this week and playing VFL. He’ll be back within the program, he’s been training pretty hard."