LOOK forward.

Michael Voss' sole focus is on what lies ahead for his Carlton team, as it hosts the undefeated Greater Western Sydney at Marvel Stadium tomorrow.

Speaking to media at his weekly pre-match press conference, this is what he had to say.

On the wash-up from the Adelaide game:

“We reviewed it as normal. We measured it up against what we’re asking our players to execute. There’s some really great parts of our game that showed up, defensively we fell short on where we need to be as a team. That put us in a really vulnerable position. 

“We’re not giving up 100 points too often, but we did in this game. It counted in the end, and then as I said after the game, there were some final moments that didn’t go our way which in the past we’ve really thrived in. It’s something we debriefed pretty strongly, all in the view of trying to make us better.”

On the possibility of a ‘statement’ win:

“I’m not really into making statements, to be honest. I’m into being a consistent footy team, and if there is a statement, it’s around that. The level of competition will obviously fluctuate throughout the year and the type of opposition you run into and where you play them has its own types of challenge, but the challenge remains the same for us. 

“It’s how we execute as a team. When you’re under a bit of pressure, can you still get the job done? That’s what we’ve got to be able to do, and I ask that of our players every single week, no matter where we play.”

On the challenge that awaits this week against undefeated opposition:

“I see it as another team to be able to go out there and play the best we possibly can. I’ve never viewed it any other way. What gets spoken about from people making projections and talking about how the game should play out, I’ll let you guys discuss that. 

“There’s enough people in the media to throw those ideas around, our job is to keep it pretty simple, rely on each other to get the job done and play a certain way. That’s what we expect every single week.”

On this week’s injury news, and looking forward:

“We’re always constantly looking at ourselves in every single area, whether that’s out on the field or that’s through our program. We also appreciate that at times during the season, you’re not going to have your absolute best team available. We did lose a couple of people in a really short turnaround, but from our point of view, we move on. 

“I think you get fluctuations throughout the season in terms of where you’re at. You might have a run in Round 12, you might have a run in Round 5. At the moment, we’ve had that, but it’s not really something we can do much about for tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ve got to get out there with 23 guys and we’ve got to be able to put in our best performance.

“When you’re 24 hours out, you focus on what you’ve got next. That’s what we’re doing. It’s not a look back today, it’s a look forward. We’ve got a team against Greater Western Sydney that we need to be able to get the job done against. We’ll do that.”

On Jack Martin and Jesse Motlop:

“They’re in the rehab program, in their returns they pulled up a little bit tight in their hamstring. We’ve got to make sure they’re ready to go: it’s not about making sure they’re ready to play one week, it’s about coming back and being able to play 10, 11, 12, 20 games of football. We’ve just got to get those boys right.”

On countering GWS’ strengths:

“It’s a real strength of theirs, and we know when the ball is in open play, they’re not just a transition-focused team. They do score heavily from stoppage as well. When you’re playing against really good teams, it challenges all parts of your system. We’ve felt like we’ve had large parts of our system together and operated really well, but when we come against GWS, we’ve got to make sure that certainly defensively, we’re on. 

“From an opposition point of view, they bring some real strengths. When you ask about individuals and individual impact, clearly that makes their system better. When you talk about their talent, they’ve got plenty of those. They also present some threats for us to shut down. 

“We also can’t ignore what we bring to the table and make sure we bring us. No matter the opposition you play against, they present some constraints and some threats you need to take away. It’s no different this week, but there’s a larger emphasis on playing the right way. We feel like if we play the right way, we’ve got the system that can stack up against anyone.”

On Sam Walsh’s return:

“Really good. The way he was able to come in speaks to his professionalism, his preparation. What our conditioning team was able to do to be able to get him back and play in that way was really impressive. Like everything, it’s not about playing the one game but it’s about you back up week after week. He’s a real pro and he’s been able to get out and train and do what he needs to do during the week so he’s ready to go.”

On Sam Taylor’s absence for the Giants:

“It wouldn’t really matter! If you want to do some recent form line, he didn’t play the last time we played them, and they still got the job done. With any team - and we lean on this as well - it takes a squad to be able to get the job done. I’m sure that’s something they’ve gone after pretty hard as well, and it’s something we’ll lean into.”

On the two-ruck model:

“The big thing is we’ve got some unique strengths about us. We’ve also got some unique flexibility. If we’re afforded the opportunity to play the two rucks, with ‘Pitto’ and Tom in strong form, it might ask a couple of questions of the opposition as well. We’ve obviously had a different look with ‘H’ in the ruck as well, so we feel that’s a unique strength that we have.”

On how to replace Saad and McGovern:

“We’ll bring a couple in to fill their role. Being able to have Lachie come in, he’s been in some really good form over the last couple of weeks. He had some presence last year in the team, gone back and worked on his game really hard, and he’s come in and will bring some real power. 

“In some ways, it’s unfortunate we lose some important players, but there’s also a young man coming in that’s going to play a lot of games of football for the Carlton Football Club. 

“We’ll have to shuffle a couple of names around, obviously ‘Youngy’ will come in to help us out in that area as well. We feel like we’ve got a pretty strong back six to get the job done.”

On Ashton Moir’s progress:

“He’s going well. He’s a young man that’s developing his way and building his craft out in here. Everyone has a slightly different journey in their first year, I think we expect that all these first-year players come in and hit the ground running on day one. Some need to go work on their craft and work on themselves, and then get that opportunity and take hold of it when they get the chance.”