FIND the positives.
A last-quarter fightback fell short for Carlton on Saturday night in a 19-point defeat to the Gold Coast Suns. Despite trailing by as much as 48 points early in the third term, the Blues responded and gave themselves a fighting chance of victory, but ultimately were unable to return to winning ways.
Here's what AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss had to say post-match.
On how the last-quarter fightback panned out:
“We were building a little bit of that energy through the third quarter, outside of the first five or so minutes when we had three goals kicked on us. You could’ve been forgiven for thinking ‘that’s enough’, but over the course of the quarter, we started to find the way we wanted to be able to play. We owned the ball a bit more, got a bit more territory, got better field position.
“It was just such a supply question at the start, we were up against it. They were dominating clearances and getting midfield turnovers, we were playing everything from our back half and not doing it as well as we normally would. To come out after half time, to make those adjustments and for the players to embrace the way we wanted to play, eventually the momentum started to fall our way.
“Finishing the last quarter with that never-give-up attitude, that’s been a trademark over us over the last couple of weeks - we’re seeing the season out strong, that’s what I said we’d do and I’m pleased the players have bought into it with good energy in the locker room.”
On gaining confidence out of the last quarter:
“Every time you get to see the way you want to play and guys getting confidence off that and the energy in behind it, to finish the game off the way we did was nice to feel the energy of that stadium. Those few moments of hope that we were coming pretty fast with plenty of time on the clock.
“As most games do, they come down to moments - they took theirs, we didn’t take some of ours. That’s what ends up being the margin in the end.”
On Francis Evans’ game:
“His last six weeks - I include his form in the VFL as well - has seen him bounce out of the bye really well. He’s playing with really high energy, some class, some good finish, some smarts: it’s a hard role, the half-forward role.
“At times you don’t get a lot of reward, but he’s found a really good balance in his game. We’re pleased with what he’s been able to do.”
On other individual performances:
“Seeing Harry in the last couple of weeks, he’s been building and I thought he was really impressive, gave us great presence, jumped at the ball and should’ve got more free kicks than what he did. But he just kept showing up.
“Ollie Hollands with the role he provided, he’s still got things to work on in his game but he has given us great bounce off half-back. At the beginning of the year, it was something that we weren’t sure about and had to find out where we’d go with it and if he’d go back on the wing, but we’ve persisted with that.
“It was an opportunity to get Hudson O’Keeffe into the team. He went out injured, we felt like he needed another game back in the VFL to get his eye in - it’s a bit unfair to throw a young man back in after he’s missed 5-6 weeks with injury and expect him to pick up where he left off... you saw a couple of beautiful pack marks: he’s going to split a few over his time, he’s tough and he competes and you love playing with people like that.”
On Cooper Lord’s impact:
“Cooper Lord had a role on Noah Anderson and did a great job, 12 tackles, impacted himself, had score involvements against a very, very good player that’s leading a lot of awards at the moment. We had little things in the game where we had some wins.
“He’s a very mature young man: there’s not a person that’s not impressed by his attitude. There’s also nobody that works harder on their game. He’s under the armpit of Cripps, Walsh and Cerra and he doesn’t leave them alone, because he’s got that appetite to be curious.
“Every time I talk to him, he’s just enormously grateful for the opportunity he gets. I asked him to never lose that. Throughout your whole career, as it becomes more serious for you, don’t lose those attributes.
“It’s a pleasure to coach that young man. He has taken on these two challenges, and they’ve been thrown to him to learn more about his game - hopefully he can finish off the year that way as well.”
On what’s improved in recent weeks:
“The pressure we’ve been able to build on the opposition in the last couple of weeks has been very good. We finished with 201, the last quarter was 207 - the game was on.
“We’ve been able to get a lot more pressure on the ball than we have in the last little while, and it’s put us in better positions on the ground, more powerful positions to launch from. That’s been a really pleasing part of our game.
“We’re still in that phase that we’re not hitting the scoreboard enough, and that’s something we’re going to have to spend a pre-season that we impact it more than we are now. “
On gaining energy from youngsters playing:
“I think so, but there’s also been some great energy in the locker room - it’s been great to see our leaders get in behind that. You could be forgiven that the season can peter away and not get much out of it. Our leaders have seen the opportunity to give some time to these young guys and give exposure to these young guys.
“They deserve that opportunity, they’ve earned the right and we need to get in behind them. The depth of our list needs to get better in terms of the bigger picture. We’re going to see that through some of these guys, they’ll take the spots of older players and that’s when you know you’re progressing as a footy team.
“We’re going to invest our time in that, we’ve been investing in that over the last couple of weeks and growing that out. It takes a more particular focus over the last month.”
On what this week’s announcement has provided:
“That’s a hard one for me to answer, a genuine intangible. Maybe in time we can look back and find out what it meant, but I really hope we’re building n environment that’s consistent.
“We understand that there’s always things going on around us, always a conversation that’s going on around us, but we’ve got to be mature enough as performers to know what to listen to and what not to. We’re trying to normalise that and keep it as consistent as we possibly can.
“Hopefully as a leader and as a group of coaches we’re turning up to be there for our players and keep serving our Club. I think it’s been that way, and to the players’ credit they’re bringing energy and getting behind our younger players - as a result, you don’t have the season you’re after, but you’re still walking away with something and with small wins.”
