TAKING it one step at a time.
When looking at the future, AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss isn’t looking ahead of the task at hand: the game against the reigning premiers in Geelong.
While the Blues had a false start in Round 1, Voss said the prospect of playing in big games furthers the motivations of the group inside the four walls.
“I think when you look at the calendar and see the first two weeks, you know what you’ve got in front of you and that’s a really big challenge,” Voss said.
“In some ways, it helps the mindset at the start of the year that Round 1 is a big one. We’ve dealt with that, and now we’ve got Round 2 with the Cats, who are maybe even more formidable coming off a loss.
“We have to give our total effort on the game itself and go and play like the next moment matters the most – that's all we have to worry about.”
Voss didn’t give any clues as to what the team will look like next week (the team will be announced tonight at 6:20pm AEDT), but he did note that everything is under consideration.
Mentioning the work of ruck Tom De Koning, Voss was favourable to his re-selection, acknowledging his promising performance last week against the Tigers.
“I can see no reason why we wouldn’t [select De Koning],” he said.
“We’re pretty happy with what Tom did and if that’s what we go forward with, we’ll be happy with that.”
Coming close to another nail-biting win, Voss brought attention to how valuable these moments are for Carlton’s learning moving forward.
While the four points would’ve clearly been the desired outcome, Voss was adamant that understating the experience it gives the group was counterproductive.
“I think we’re making a real assumption here that we haven’t been able to thrive in those moments previously – there've been plenty of big moments where we’ve thrived and our leaders have stood up,” he said.
“The fact that we’re in these games and fighting out these games just puts us in a better place to be able to handle them well in the future. The boys are clear on what that looks like for us and get out and execute if the moment calls for it.”
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