MICHAEL Voss fronted the media shortly after being revealed as the new AFL Senior Coach at the Carlton Football Club.
Here is what he had to say.
On landing the job:
"It was pretty thorough, I was well and truly tested throughout the whole process. It’s a great honour to be coaching the Carlton Football Club.
"As someone who was a huge supporter of Carlton as a young guy coming through before I was drafted at the Brisbane Bears, it’s quite nostalgic that I’m sitting here today and genuinely a huge honour."
On what he's looking forward to:
"Today with the final appointments being made, we get to really shift the energy moving forward and I’m looking forward to getting started and working with the players and stepping this up to get the success that we all want."
On the appeal of the Carlton coaching position:
"Initially, the general appeal of it all was the thoroughness of the review. Being able to see how it unfolded as an observer and the change that clearly was being embraced and that’s pretty significant when you’re walking in as a coach.
"Being able to get new coaches and impart your wisdom when it comes to what’s required from a leadership and culture point of view and also being able to impart the game style that you want to put in place with a group that has plenty of potential."
On making finals:
"I think it’s largely important to not cap where we want to be. My time here and being able to go through this process, there’s obviously some good talent here and that’s one of the exciting parts of being able to coach this football team.
"I won’t step away from embracing expectations, I understand that we’ve got a really rich history as the Carlton Football Club, we’ve had great success as a Club and we’ll embrace those expectations but hopefully we can also shift the narrative a little and how do we play with a greater purpose, which becomes bigger than the result itself."
On changes at the Club:
"The great opportunity we’ve got is to ask everyone to step up a little bit more, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to put an environment around this group that supports them to be able to go out there with real clarity and execute.
"There’s a really exciting opportunity for the players, it’ll be somewhat uncomfortable because the environment is going to look totally different, new coach, new assistant coaches, new game plan, we’ll be trying to integrate and connect our whole football club, which is a real priority for us."
On the current list:
"There’s no doubt there’s been a genuine top end here but our ability to be able to replicate it week on week in a very long season has proved challenging at times.
"To do that, we’re going to have to work on that, we’re going to have to work on how we are as teammates and how we’re going to back up day after day and bring the intensity we need to so we can sustain the performance and sustain the level we need to go."
On proving himself:
"I won’t lie, there’s an element of that [desire] within me and I am essentially a competitor. It’s easy to be a competitor and make an impact when you play but it’s very different as a coach and for me, I’m trying to always get the best version of myself and we’re not here to be part of the group, we’re here to be the best and that’s what we’ll strive for."
