THE WIN over Port Adelaide in Round 5 confirmed much of what Michael Voss and his coaching staff thought of Carlton in the lead-up to the contest.
The good stuff is really good. But consistently producing it is very much the next step.
The Blues held on to record a three-point win over Port at the MCG, in very similar circumstances to their last game on the venue against Hawthorn a fortnight ago.
This is what Voss had to say.
On the immediate reaction post-match:
“It’s a bit of relief.
“We put ourselves in such a strong position. Our top level is extremely impressive, but we drop our guard a bit and lose some concentration and lacked some consistency in the way we want to play.
“We just need to make sure we keep working at it. If anything, it becomes more of a confirmation about what we need to keep working on. Maybe it’s not as strong yet.
“We need to keep our training and keep emphasising the right things and keep valuing the right things so we can produce a lot longer than what we are.”
On the application of the playing group:
“Despite us putting ourselves in that position, you can’t fault the fortitude of this group.
“The last five or six minutes of that game were extremely intense. If we lost some intensity around the ball, we somehow found it in that last five or six minutes.
It’s fair to say that we’re in that position right now where we have to learn how to win — and win properly. We’re still in that stage.
“While we’re banking these four points, we keep ourselves in a really good position and we’ll keep going to work on ourselves and how we get better.”
On what changed after half time:
“It’s not so much about the change. Port adjusted a few things it was trying and we lost some intensity that we had in that first half.
“Any side - it doesn’t matter where they sit - if you give them that opportunity, they build their energy off it and they fought it out until the end.
“Fortunately, we had a number of guys that were able to stand up in really big moments. We’ve had that throughout the year. We’ve had big leadership moments.
“While we’d like to not call on it as much as we are currently when we’re in strong positions, the fact is the boys are identifying that and are able to go out there and execute it.”
On Jack Martin’s performance:
“He had a great game. His first half, he was impressive and probably the most damaging player along with Sam Walsh.
“We saw what Jack brings to us. He has been a little bit down, but I’m really pleased he’s been able to work his way through that. You don’t get a full season on your terms.
“You have some ebbs and flows in form and you get to work during the week, and he’s been able to do that. We know we’re going to get some real value from him moving forward.”
On George Hewett’s continued impact:
“He’s been super consistent.
“I had my old coach Leigh Matthews talk about having a player that you’d put up on the board, and you’d know they’d just turn up every single week and are ready to play. I don’t think I understood that until I became a coach and you see your own players.
“You look at someone like George and he epitomises that. I don’t have to worry about him during the week, I don’t have to worry about his preparation or his mindset coming into the game.
“He’s an incredible competitor and he has slotted in very well for us.”
On Patrick Cripps’ availability for Round 6:
“He’ll be assessed this week. He’s a good chance.
“We’ll wait and see in the first couple of days of this week: clearly he’s got to train. We’ll know more as the week goes.”
On players stepping up in the captain’s absence:
“The really big thing for us has been that guys have come in and they’re getting their jobs done.
“We had a few guys that came out of the VFL this week that have been in really strong form. They came in and contributed to our team’s performance.
“Unfortunately we lost our captain, but we had other guys come in to get the job done. If you want to become a resilient team, that’s what you have to be. You’re not going to have all your cattle out there.
“If guys can get out there and take it on together, we feel like we can get the wins we need.”
