CARLTON Head of Football Brad Lloyd joined SEN SA to discuss the weekend's upcoming clash with Port Adelaide.
Here's what he had to say.
On reacting to external noise:
“Particularly with Covid and everything going on, football departments are fairly quiet this day in terms of staff and players. The last couple of years, it’s been like a VFL club with the lack of people around. It allows everyone to put their head down.
“Externally there’s been a bit of hype, but I think we know that we’ve got a fair bit of work to do. It’s a coaching group that has only been together for a short amount of time, it’s all new under ‘Vossy’.
“We’re pretty realistic with where we’re at. It was a challenge on the weekend.”
The captain has been cleared of any significant damage to his hamstring: at this stage, he is likely to miss the one week.
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) April 12, 2022
On bridging the list gap in recent seasons:
“From a list management point of view, we had a really young group and then a number of older players. Guys like Eddie Betts, Levi Casboult and Marc Murphy who have gone out.
“Through the trade period, we’ve tried to add through that middle-aged bracket. You need a glut of those 27-29-year-olds when the whips are cracking to do well in finals. We’ve been able to bolster a bit of maturity.
“There’s a bit of cohesion required, with a new coaching group and a number of new players coming together onto the list. We know that’ll take time to come together.”
On Michael Voss’ impact, as he readies for a familiar opponent this Sunday:
“I’ve never met a more humble person for what he’s achieved. He’s very good with people, right from the first day he was straight in the gym with players and walking with them and getting to know them.
“He’s a real leader and naturally an extroverted person that loves being around people. He’s built really good relationships, which’ll come to fruition as the year goes on and he’s able to challenge hard based on the relationships he’s got. He brings strong leadership to the football club.”
On being wary of Port Adelaide this weekend:
“We’re very wary. We still have a lot of respect for the footy club: they’re a quality club. They’ve been a quality, high-finishing club - making prelims and finals - in recent years, and it’s somewhere where we want to get to as a footy club.
“We’re very conscious of their quality of players, they’ve got pretty good experience. We respect every opponent and respect Port as both a club and opponent this week.
“We’ll be preparing, we weren’t at the level we want to be on the weekend.”
