THE BLUES didn't have dominance in their usual areas around the contest last night against the Tigers.

Spending the majority of time in Richmond’s forward half, Carlton's defence was under constant pressure, but Michael Voss was proud of the way his players stood tall — despite ultimately labelling the result “a lost opportunity”.

Here's what he had to say. 

On the game as a whole:

"Both sides had chances to win that game. It looked somewhat a different profile to what we normally won games by and that’s been by clearance dominance and a lot of forward-half ball and we had to do that a different way.

"All those sorts of numbers were against us for most of the day but what went our day was our effort and our intensity across the whole game remained high.

"From a situation of a draw, you probably walk out thinking ‘we should’ve won that’, but we would’ve had to win a completely different way to what we’re used to.

"I reckon if that game happens last year, we lose by six goals. For that game to play out the way it did and still be in front and still be a chance to win and still disappointed to get the result – I think that shows real progress in our group."

On the final minutes of the game:

"It’s a lost opportunity but we should be walking out of that game and being proud of our efforts because they risked it and they put it all on the line and we walk out with the draw.

"It makes the feeling a bit different, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t go to work.

"We can’t skip over it. We’re about improvement, we’ll look at all of those moments and see where we can get better." 

On Lewis Young:

"He’s been growing for the last 12 months and he’s caught us by surprise a little bit — his development has been really steep.

"To be able to see him and what he’s been able to do and know when to be assertive and win his battles – he’s winning more battles and he’s playing against a pretty good opponent.

"He was put under stress a fair bit because that ball was coming down fast a few times: we couldn’t get the ball locked in our forward half and that made it really troublesome for our defenders. They were copping it from everywhere at times but they stood strong.

"[The defence] were under barrage down there and they stood tall so many times.”

On Ollie Hollands and Lachie Cowan:

"I was really impressed with them. When you throw two debutants and you’re aware as a coach what you’re throwing them into: you’re throwing them into 88,000 at the MCG Round 1, the hype surrounding it, but we really love their demeanour and we love how measured they both are.

"We see how are they going and how they stack up against people that they’re competing against and we really like what we saw. There were some nice moments of composure and big contest moments that they just stood tall."

On the crowd and playing in big games:

"I pinch myself, I really do. I think about my career and not having been a part of this day and just being able to feel the buildup, the excitement, feel the enthusiasm and excitement of our members and supporters and how excited they are.

"To come to these games, we don’t take it for granted and that’s why I thought the boys gave their total effort today against the grain."

On Ed Curnow and tagging Dion Prestia:

"[Prestia] is a great player, he’s important to them and we felt like we’d get a role on him so he didn’t get off the chain early in the fourth to get the game back on our terms.

"I thought it really helped us, we were struggling around clearance in the third, I thought we were able to even it up in the fourth quarter.

"Ed’s got a big say on what we do next. His experience and his energy and his competitive ability and the energy he brings to the team – people walk taller around  him.

"To see him out there, I’m pleased he’s been able to work through the challenges he had last year and he’s desperate for success for this Club."