THE NEXT step. 

With one more win to secure a spot in the Grand Final, all eyes are on the Gabba and the preliminary final.

AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss was emphatic that his side is ready to take the next step and have nothing holding them back as they face the Lions on Saturday evening. 

Here's what he had to say. 

On reflecting on his own time at the Gabba: 

"I haven’t spent a lot of time outside of getting our players ready. As you can imagine, there’s a fair bit to consider and a lot to plan for so we tend to get consumed by preparation and being in the right head space.

"We see the opportunity that is in front of us and that’s where our time as been spent. To me, it’s somewhat irrelevant to where the game is, the fact that we get to play at the Gabba, that’s our way to the next step, so be it.

On the Carlton story:

"We’ve got such a great story to tell and we get to lean into a lot of that really. There’s been plenty to share and plenty of stories to share that say that we’re ready for this moment. We’re just looking forward to getting out here, it's an important game for us against a quality opposition."

On Brisbane's home record:

"They haven’t lost a game out here this year. Their finals record has a couple of wins here so the challenge is right in front of us.

"What I will say is that I used to believe that you need to be able to play in finals to be able to learn how to win them, but I have a very different experience at Carlton because we’re playing in games that are big all the time.

"The last couple of weeks, if it gets louder than that, I’ll be somewhat surprised. We feel like we’re ready. 

On reflecting on where they've come from: 

"We have done a small bit of reflection before, it’s important for us to look at what we’ve learnt and what we’ve been able to implement and change, overcome and adapt. That’s why we feel like we’re ready for this.

"It’s our first finals campaign that we’ve had for a long period of time and the first one for a lot of these boys, but what makes us really unique is that we’re exposed to this environment a lot.

"We understand the outcome is a lot different, but we’ve had a year where we’ve had to go to the line a lot of times and we’re going to need that tomorrow against a quality opponent.

"Prelims are just special, they’re unique, I love them, they’re some of my favourite games, and we get to go out and play in one and see what happens."

On dealing with the pressure of finals:

"I would say the last two weeks, the environment was incredible and the stakes were really high. As the finals go, the stakes get higher, but the challenge is to stay completely in the moment, and present to the game that you’re playing in and I think that’s something we’ve done really well.

"We haven’t looked too far ahead, we’ve acknowledged where we’ve come from and we’ve stayed totally present to one another and have enjoyed what we’re doing and we’re trying to provide energy and make that contagious and we feel like that energy is going to our fans and supporters and they’re bringing the noise for us."

On the selection puzzle and Matt Owies: 

"It’s fortunate that we’ve got 27 or 28 players that have been in some really good form, so you’re operating in some really tight margins about what way to go. I’m really confident that if there are another set of guys out there that could get the job done, they’d come in and get their job done really well.

"This is the group we’ve gone with to get the best result we can and we’re fit, we’re healthy and the guys are in form. 

"We love 'Matty'. All the spirit that he brings and the role he provides for us is fantastic. They’re some of the tight margins we’ve had to work with, some roles we want to play, some matchups we want to go with.

"There’s a fair bit to consider and a body of work we have to make those decisions. He’s a very important person to us, unfortunately, in this circumstance, we’ve gone a different way."

On Harry McKay and Jack Martin:

"Having Harry back is a massive plus for us, and Jack, they’ve both been important players for us. Having the cohesion of that group through the back end of the season was a really important part of the way we played and we felt like when we provided that real scoring threat for the opposition, having that mix down there was really important to us.

"They combine pretty well, but more importantly, they operate really well as a forward six or seven together. We understand we’re up against a quality unit, they defend really hard when they need to, they’ve got some real strong defensive players down there, we’re going to have to find our way through that, we’ll have to work hard together, but hopefully we can provide enough pressure, get enough entries, so we can get the scoreboard ticking over."

On Blake Acres:

"He’s been amazing. Some of the moments he’s been involved in have been unbelievable. I’m sure when he gets time to reflect once we’re done, he’ll reflect back on those but every week he has, the better he’s going to be.

"He pulled up even better than last week, he’s had a full training week under his belt, so we feel like he’s in a really good place. I know there’s been focus on injuries and it appears that we’re managing, but we’re putting a pretty fit team out there and we’re putting out a team that is in form, so we expect the very best of us."

On the defensive mix:

"Brisbane are not as tall as what they’ve been in the past, so that was one part of the consideration. We’re in a fortunate position where players are in form and we’ve got a few different guys that can go and change what that looks like.

"'Boydy' comes in. He played five or six weeks in season, and he’ll provide that bounce and defensive stability at the same time."

On the noise of the Carlton fans at the Gabba: 

"Bring the noise, just keep bringing it. I’ve spoken about their energy that they bring us and the way we’ve played, we try to connect with that and they feel like they’re connected to it and our job is to come out there and play the right way.

"Hopefully that energises them and they can bring the noise as well because the Gabba does get pretty loud, it might be smaller in numbers, but it can be very loud."