MICHAEL VOSS confirmed that Mitch McGovern will be lining up for the Blues for the first time since Round 2 after recovering from hamstring surgery.
In what will be Carlton's final game at Marvel Stadium for the season, Voss spoke about how the inclusion of McGovern will hold the team in good stead in the run home and how the Blues will apply their key lessons from throughout the week.
Here's what he had to say.
On Mitch McGovern:
"We’ve missed him, he was a pretty important member of our team earlier this season. It was bit unfortunate that he had that setback but it's good to get him back.
"From a personnel point of view, we’ve lost a few but it’s good to get him back at this time of the year.
"I think the purpose of last week was that the VFL gave us the chance to manage anything if we needed to but he got through so well. He’s had a great block of training now, we’ve been able to get a quality five or six weeks under his belt: the last box he needed to tick was playing VFL and he was always going to come straight back into the side when he was available.
"The continuity is really important. It’s one thing to get people back into your team, but when they’ve been missing for a long time, those relationships and that connection that they have and that they build with their other defenders is really important. It gives us a chance to build that, we’ve got some pretty important games coming up so it’s timely that he returns."
On the Geelong wash-up:
"I think when you play against a mature football team, they ask questions of every part of your system.
"I’d like to sit here and say there was one particular thing that we take away, but the reality is that they demand your system to be right on for four quarters and if you’re not, they’ll capitalise on those mistakes and they’ll score. That’s the way the game played out: [we need to be] a little bit better around and with the ball and they defended a little bit harder."
On how they reviewed the game:
"We sit in the review and ask what do we need to do and get better, that’s us continuously evolving.
"The full version of us is going to happen over a long period of time, not just this year. We still like we’ve got so much growth within us.
"The challenge for us is how do we stay on us and how do we execute it for a little longer. We strayed at times through the game because Geelong asked more questions of us and they capitalised on those moments where we couldn’t capitalise the other way."
On the GWS challenge:
"The Giants haven’t had as good a two weeks as what they would like but clearly they’re moving the ball pretty powerfully when they need to. They’ve got some really damaging players there that when they get on the end of it, they can really challenge you.
"It’s a really important game for us. Clearly the Giants is our next challenge, and also how we respond is our next challenge after last week and how do we take those learnings and put them into this one.
"What we will face is a forward six or seven that is quite different from the past, and our defensive back six have to adapt to what’s in front of them."
On how they will approach the game:
"I think every team is trying to shut down the really dangerous parts of the ground. Everyone wants to shut down that corridor space and not give access to any team in the competition because it’s the fastest way home.
"We know we have to do that but we feel like if we get our game up and running, that should be enough to get the job done.
"Against Geelong, that’s probably where the lesson was learnt: how do we stick it out for longer and really stick to our method and realise that every single opposition will bring their unique challenges.
"We have to see it, adapt to it but still go about it our way."
