ALL the key points coming out of AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss’ pre-Gather Round press conference.

Here’s what he had to say.

On how to approach the Gather Round opener against Adelaide:

“It’s our first training session for the week effectively. The review out of the game was a pretty obvious one: the ability to finish our games, but also treat it with perspective. Where were the gains we made throughout the game? If you’re going to deal with what you need to be better at, you need to reinforce what went well and what put us in a position to win. The game looked how we wanted it to look for the majority of that.

“If you go into the detail, it was a high-pressure game and we didn’t finish the game the way we wanted so we end up with the same result. We’ll keep a lens on how we want to finish, but we can’t walk past some of the progress we made in that space.

“We make the game about the game, and not what’s happening around it. Our supporters want to know about this weekend, and that’s all I care about as well.”

On the players’ commitment in-game:

“The key part is doing it when the game is getting tougher, and how do we still execute what we need to through those critical times. Everything is telling me - when you look at behind-the-goals vision, paying attention to the little things, being there for each other - has been a positive, but you need to do it for the entirety of the game. That’s what we’ve been challenged on.

“Some of that has come up, some of those have been important conversations to have. But we’re not walking away with four points. You’ve got 80 per cent of your work that you’re happy with, but there’s 20 per cent letting us down.”

On how the team approves their communication in key moments:

“A lot of talking. Is it any more complicated than that? You get the detail right.

“There’s the way we want to play and the moments we want to play better, there’s still got to be a structure and method in behind it. The short answer is the game on the weekend, North Melbourne brought a pressure rating of 2.27, which is extraordinary. We were still sitting at a 2.0 pressure rating. Both teams were going at it, but they did it for a bit longer and we weren’t able to absorb it for long enough.

“The connection piece is making sure we still communicate to each other and are still leading each other through those moments, bringing confidence to each other. That’s a total team thing. You’ve got to acknowledge the progress, because we had points of progression that we need to stop and acknowledge - but also stare it down and say that it needs to be better.”

On balancing what needs to improve with any progress made:

“I said last week it’s not about having a silver bullet: a lot of it is about understanding what you need to continue to persist through, and also acknowledging what you need to change and what you don’t need to change to keep persisting with.

“It’s not about throwing everything out and saying ‘Let’s start again’, it’s finding those little things in our game that if we bridge the gap on them, it makes us a better football team. But there’s also being really strong on what we need to continue to persist with, and ensure that we get the right behaviours at the right time in games.”

On this Thursday’s game against the Crows:

“We’ve got a game to play against Adelaide, and we’ve got another chance to play against a good opposition. They’ve got their own little challenges right now. When you talk about the game itself, our next chance to prove that is to go out and play against a quality opponent in Gather Round when we kick it off.

“We know it’s important to them, it’s an important stage of the season for both them and us. We look forward to that challenge. Once we deal with what’s happened in the game, then we move forward pretty quick. It’s hard having this conversation with you guys, because we’re looking back three days while I’m looking forward to the two days that are coming, and how we get that transfer from one game to the next.

“We’ll highlight some positive changes, but there’s an absolute acknowledgment that we need to do it for longer. I sat here last week and said we can’t do it for 115 minutes, we have to do it for 120 - that’s what we need to do.”

On how the team approached half time last week:

“We look at all things. We’ve been doing little processes like that since Brisbane in the first practice match. That’s the rehearsal and repetition of it: once you’ve done the work, do the reps. We’ve clearly got to do more reps.

“There are subtle little things that you can look at, but I’m not a massive believer in how you run out after half time is how you play. There’s an element of re-engaging with the task and focus, we got that right on the weekend, but it doesn’t guarantee that we get it right this week. Every week is going to throw a different anomaly at us.

“We’ve got first halves right, but it doesn’t guarantee we’ll get it right this week. We haven’t been able to finish off games how we’d like and acknowledge there’s something there, but that doesn’t mean it can’t change this week. Every week is a new opportunity, but we’ve also got to acknowledge is what’s coming.

“Adelaide is a team that brings enormous amounts of pressure, we’ve got to make sure we can absorb that and that we can go from inside to outside really fast - they’re a team that can do that - and clearly they’ve got some scoring threats.”

On recalibrating over the weekend:

“Outside of the game itself, I spent the weekend eating Easter eggs having a short turnaround. You encourage the playing group to switch off to get their rest, and then when you’re on, be on. There’s an enormous amount of work that has to go into getting yourself prepared for the following week.

“Outside of having the rest you need and having those fine hot cross buns, as well as dialling in on what you need to do next, the message is really clear and you don’t make it bigger than what it is. Value the really important things we want in our game, there’s really no other conversation - not in here anyway.

“All these things that get talked about, ultimately we’ve got a really important task this week, and that’s the weekend. It’ll be the same next week and the week after that.”

On how the team approaches the next game, with plenty of commentary on the outside:

“What you have to do is continually look at what’s real and what’s not real. Some of that you have to factor in, you can’t ignore it. But at the same time, when you’re really committed to what’s important to you, then you tend to give that more voice. That’s the challenge for us. How do you give voice to what’s happening inside and celebrating people, while also having the high standards and accountability for what’s needed inside the four walls? That’s what we’ve got to continue to reinforce within our environment.

“There’s going to be continual dialogue and analysis that happens around teams, it certainly happens here. Within all that is as a performer, lock in on what you need to be able to do. Put all that talk aside for a couple of hours a week, look at your teammate beside you and stand up for them. That’s the task we’ve got. If anything, there’s an opportunity in that - and we’ve got to take that opportunity.”

On replacing Jacob Weitering, who will miss this weekend due to concussion:

“We won’t disclose all of it, but obviously without ‘Weiters’, we need to replace that pillar. He’s going alright post-weekend, he’s bounced pretty well at this stage as he goes through his own protocols. Now it’s about the game and the next player that comes in, we’ll work out what that balance looks like.

“Obviously Derksen came in last week, ‘Youngy’ played a bit more in the ruck, we’ll talk about what that splits need to be. ‘Haynesy’ has had a few games under his belt, he’s certainly getting closer to be ready, and there’s a few others in that boat as well. ‘Saady’ isn’t a tall, but he’s gone back and found a bit of form on the weekend which was good to see. There’s a few guys that are a chance if the opportunity presents itself.”