MICHAEL Voss was consistent in his message: the Blues need to stay in the moment.

Readying up for a clash with North Melbourne tomorrow night, Voss said Carlton should expect every team at its best as it searches for a fifth win of the campaign.

With five changes following George Hewett coming out of the side due to injury, here's what Michael Voss had to say ahead of the match at Marvel Stadium. 

On Mitch McGovern:

"It's a bit of a loss.

"He had a recurrence of the hamstring. He had that assessed this morning and we're still waiting to find out what the eventual outcome will be. It's a bit of a wait and see in that regard.

"We were hoping to get him up and going for next week, but we've lost him for a little while. 

"I'd be speculating [on timeframe] without knowing the scan results. The purpose of today is to make the full assessment."

On Jack Carroll: 

"Jack Carroll will play his first game, which is really pleasing for Jack. He had a pre-season which was absolutely outstanding.

"He could’ve stated at a strong case to play Round 1, had a few little interruptions and a couple more in the last month, but his last couple of weeks have been really strong.

"He comes in in really good form and he’s tough, he’s hard and he’s earned his spot and I know he’ll do really well. 

"He’s worked really closely with our mids right throughout the pre-season: he’s certainly mixed it with a few of the bigger boys in there and he won’t shirk the contest this young man. I think the Carlton faithful will be pretty happy with watching his career unfold." 

On ruck movement and Tom De Koning: 

"Not much will change for us in terms of who is playing ruck. Tom has played some ruck and he’ll just get some more exposure in that position.

"What better opportunity to come in and probably own the next little period and what that looks like for him. We didn’t have [Marc] 'Pitto' there last year and Tom was able to play a lot of games last year and that was fantastic for his development: it made him really hungry, he had a great pre-season, so it’s the next-man-up approach.

"We feel really confident that he’s going to be able to deliver a really strong performance for us, not just this week, but over the next couple of months and he’ll be supported by [Lewis] ‘Youngy’ if we need it, he’ll be supported by [Jack Silvagni] ‘SOS’ if we need to go down that path as well. 

"We’ve got great confidence and the confidence is not built off of convenience, it’s built off of a body of work that we’ve seen over a period of time.

"I feel like the pre-season that Tom has had and what he’s been able to do, he’s completely ready for this moment. He’s up against a really strong ruckman, we ask for him to be able to compete as hard as he possibly can and it’s up to the mids to get to work and make sure that they own the ground." 

On Harry and Ben McKay: 

"I spoke to Harry about that the other day when the news came through, this is a real strange turn of events!

"It would’ve been interesting to see. I’ve had a few chats with him around it, obviously I played against my brother as well so I’ve got some familiarity around that.

"Ben’s not going to be there and Harry will: it’s good that he’s been able to get up from his knee through the week. We were managing that soreness through the week, it’ll be something we have to manage throughout the course of the week over the next couple but in terms of ‘is he fit and ready to go?’, he’s healthy and he’ll perform well." 

On managing McKay's minutes: 

"You can’t possibly manage that. Our policy is a simple one: when you’re ready to go, you go out there and you play hard and you play at your full capacity and that’s our full expectations.

"How we manage that during the week, we might have to for a couple of weeks but we feel he’s ready to go." 

On the approach towards North Melbourne: 

"For us, it’s really clear on what we’re trying to be able to play like and I think a lot of people have been able to see that over the last little period and our ability to stay in the moment and be able to play for longer.

"If that means that it takes a little bit longer, then that means we’ll take the time to be able to get it done.

"We expect that when we come out here and play against North Melbourne, it’ll be a four-quarter performance. Our expectations coming into the game don’t change, what we need to be able to work on during the week will continually be refined. 

"We’re in a position right now where we want to earn the right as a footy club, so it’s about being able to go out there and play the right way every single time we play.

"To me, it doesn’t matter about the opposition. When we walk out there, we have to expect their best."