MICHAEL Voss is not going to let the external pressure get to his side, determined to continue going about things the way they have been all pre-season.
Here's what he had to say ahead of the Hawthorn game.
On the Bulldogs game:
"Friday was the first day back, I watched a bit of VFL on Friday afternoon so it was nice to roll in with four points.
"It was horrible, it wasn’t the greatest sitting there watching, I had everything available, so I had the deluxe version of watching football but when it got into the last quarter and the result was on the line a little bit, it wasn’t the best experience I’ve ever had in my life. I’m just really proud of the Club: we had to make a lot of adjustments throughout the week, probably more to do with the staff than anyone else.
"The players just got on with the job, the staff knew the job ahead of them and they did it magnificently well so I think it really speaks volumes to the progress we’ve made in a few areas and one of them has been in resilience. They adapted well and walked away with a good victory against a good opposition."
On Jack Martin and Adam Cerra:
"They are both available.
"We haven’t had selection yet but I think we can safely say they’re available for selection. They become available, what we do as an adjustment off the back of it, we haven’t had team selection yet. We think they’ll be fine, we’ve already sort of got the clearance in that regard so we think they’ll be fine."
On changing expectations:
"If you’re trying to establish consistency, then you have to have consistency in what you do and what you’re trying to play like. We’ve taken a progressive approach in the way we’re going to play so we’ve got plenty to grow in our game: we have to look at the game with the same set of eyes and we have to understand what’s real and what’s not.
"For us, our training and prep has been extremely important in the way that we get ready for games and that’s put us in a really good position.
"The only encouragement I have for the players is that we get back to work, we do what we have to do, we train right, we put the same amount of work into our opposition, we get ourselves physically and mentally ready for a really physical game of football and we should expect no different week to week."
On belief:
"It’s growing. I think there has been some important flags in the ground throughout pre-season and some early reward we’ve had through some of the pre-season games, some early reward in some of the opposition we’ve played against and our style being able to stack up against that: that’s really where you build your belief from.
"As far as being able to still make sure that we’re progressing in areas of our game, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’re making some good ground and we’re operating off a really strong base."
On the Hawks:
"[Their start], it’s been emphatic from what I can see. Watching them the other night, clearly their efficiency is going to put our defence on notice, so we’re going to have to be fully engaged, fully present with how we get out our jobs done in that area of the ground.
"They’re playing some really spirited football, they’re playing really efficiently, we’re certainly going to have to bring our best, that’s for sure."
On earning respect:
"Respect is very hard-earned and is very easily lost. We’ve got to go about earning the right throughout this year, we don’t feel like we’ve achieved much at all.
"We’ve shown some really strong signs that we’re heading in the right direction but what has been really great with these guys is that they’ve been really hungry and they’re just trying to grow off what we’ve done last week and we’re trying to get better."
On changing preparation:
"It hasn’t changed. What I hope is that with our members and supporters, that they’re really excited about the direction that we’re going.
"We’re not fulfilled, that’s the thing that is coming loud across from the players, the coaches, from our staff. We’re not fulfilled, we’ve only just started, we want to have a real impact on this season.
"We’re going about earning some respect across this year so we can’t afford to lower the guard, we’ve got the foot down, we’re going hard and our next line of sight is the Hawks and we’ve got to bring our best to win."
