SETTING his sights on Round 1. 

In his first year as AFL Senior Coach at Carlton, Michael Voss is looking forward to the traditional Thursday night clash between the Blues and Tigers at the MCG. 

One thing Voss is looking forward to the most is seeing the loyal Bluebaggers fill the home of football, creating a palpable atmosphere for his side to play in front of in what will be Voss' first game in his new role.

“When I think about what's coming up for us — we're going to have fans back,” Voss said. 

“Fans, members back at the football: that's so exciting that we can do that. 

“We're just looking forward to getting out there and putting our best out there and the adrenaline and the stresses of game day.”

While buoyed by what Carlton showed in its two practice matches, Voss knows that it'll be a different question entirely when coming up against a hungry Richmond outfit in seven days.

There are many things Voss wants to see translated onto the field from the training track, but playing selfless footy is his main agenda. 

“There's some steps that we need to put in place and some characteristics that we need to build into our footy team first and foremost,” he said.

“The first thing is that real, selfless approach: we need to be able to play for one another and have that real spirit.”

Knowing that the process will take time, Voss assured fans there will be no shortcuts taken and that the team will build brick by brick, aiming for sustained success once it is achieved. 

“There's a way you get better, that's where our focus is really going to lie,” he said. 

“We can't do it at the expense of everything: if we're going to do this well, we have to do it sustainably well.

“I think everyone out there should know that everything's been done to ensure that we can get ourselves not only back to where we want to be, but be there for a while.” 

In terms of the Richmond clash, Voss knows his side is going head to head with a formidable opponent that has had the bragging rights over Carlton in recent years.

What Voss won’t be doing is taking Richmond’s form dip in 2021 into account, knowing that the opposition is a side that has a strong system in place from which they won't deviate.

 “There'll be no taking for granted the opposition that we're facing,” he said. 

“In some ways, when you play a team like this, it locks you straight in to what needs to be done: there's no second guessing on the style they want to play.” 

Voss admitted that this will be a big test for his side to try and mentally prepare themselves to play the way they want to play every week, with Round 1 being the first real test of a new-look Blues outfit. 

“Our challenge is to be able to get out there and believe in the way that we're going to go about it and in every game that we play it is treated the same way,” he said. 

“[We’ll] try and minimise their threats the best we can and try and maximise ours.

“Let’s hope there's 85,000 people at the ’G and there's two fan bases that are screaming at one another and two teams that are going at it: we're all looking forward to it.”