"WE'VE got to keep chasing."

There hasn't been a Carlton win under Michael Voss as impressive as the 17-point triumph over the ladder-leading Collingwood, and the AFL Senior Coach couldn't hide his pride for not only his players, but also the football club.

However, despite a performance where the Blues out-pressured and out-hunted the best team in the competition, he's conscious that there's still work to be done, no matter the feeling in the rooms post-match.

Here's what he had to say.

On the game as a whole:

“It was a fantastic performance. Even late in the game at three-quarter time and talking to the players, they just wanted that moment. We wanted to get back to that stage, to see what’s different and what stands up: they stepped into it. 

“We didn’t change anything with the way we wanted to play. We stayed daring, we still wanted to bring pressure on the ball, we didn’t want to change things if Collingwood came. They stayed really present in the moment and finished off the game really strongly.”

On the players’ mindset:

“[The game] had a different feel. It’s hard to describe, but the energy was they were really looking forward to it. You put yourself in positions and that’s all you can do, then you’ve got to close it. 

“We learnt a lot about ourselves in those situations last year, and we’ve learned a lot about ourselves in recent times — which were pretty tough times. Through that, we’ve been able to stick together, stay connected and transfer some of that off-field connection to on-field. 

“They’re really playing a selfless brand of football, playing for each other and don’t want to let each other down.”

On the shift in the last two months:

“There were some tough days and a lot of really tough conversations. There were tough conversations from the leaders to the players, there were tough conversations amongst us as coaches about what was it and what clarity did we need to be able to provide and what we were going to value moving forward. 

“Clearly, there were a lot of tough conversations between coaches and players and the leadership group. This doesn’t just happen on the back of just the players, it comes off the back of a football club. There were plenty of those moments where we could’ve gone a different way, but we didn’t. We stuck together, and I think it says a lot about our club now.”

On Adam Cerra’s hamstring:

“I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you if it’s in the same area or not. It’s a bit crowded in that room at the moment! We’ll get a full debrief in the coming days. 

“It’s obviously disappointing to lose him, but at the same time, ‘Dowy’ has been able to come in and get a job done when we’ve asked him to. That’s been the other part that we’ve asked players to do at different times: we’ve had personnel challenges, and guys have stepped up to get their jobs done. 

“There’s some individual brilliance in there that players are delivering on, but largely it’s off the back of playing your role, getting your job done and sticking together.”

On Carlton’s appetite for the contest:

“They’re the best ground ball team in the competition, they certainly have been to this point in the season. To look at that number and know you haven’t just been able to do that at the contest, but do that away from the contest, says a lot about our effort and intensity.

"There’s a little bit of system behind that, but the ability for the boys to not just win it at the contest - but work away from it, and turn up to the next one - was particularly impressive. 

“There were some really special efforts from our forwards tonight. Any time Collingwood wanted to get that ball live, we were coming. It’s been a bit of a trait of the boys over the last little period of time.”

On the Richard Pratt Medallist, Charlie Curnow:

“He’s in incredible form. I can’t understand this commentary that he only kicks goals against West Coast. I don’t get it, it’s AFL football. It’s tough. 

“To be able to do that against some quality opposition was really impressive. Hopefully he just feels that he needs to get his job done, and no more than that. If there’s rewards on the back of it, then so be it, but he’s in some pretty hot form.”

On the work still to come:

“On reflection, there’s maybe a situation where you feel like you have something to lose. We feel like we’ve got something to gain, something to go after, something to chase. We’re not there yet, so we’ve got to keep chasing. 

“What we’ve also learned is that we’ve got to keep enjoying what we’re doing. You don’t have to put your mind forward, just stay where you are, keep your eyes where your feet are and we’ll be okay. Keep enjoying it. There was a patch there that were hard yards. Even when we were winning, we weren’t enjoying the process as well as we should’ve, because we weren’t playing the way we wanted to play. Expectations and outcomes were getting on top of us a bit. 

“It’s about enjoying the journey we’re on and being present with one another, we’re not going to change that. I’d imagine there’d be conversations about what it might look like in a month’s time, but I’m not concerned about that. I’m concerned about what we do next.”

On the impact of senior Blues:

“Our leaders have been unbelievable. Our people have been unbelievable. They stuck to the job was to try and keep creating the right environment. If we were really consistent and didn’t deviate, just keep tinkering with things - because we knew we had to make some adjustments - and as a football support staff, we stayed calm. 

“I’ve been really impressed with our leaders in recent times. 

“The first conversation I had with them when we had to have some tough ones was I had to have it with them and where they saw themselves as leaders. They accepted it, nobody blinked. That says a lot about them.”