IT WAS a disappointing outing for the Blues at the SCG on Friday night, as the Swans put on a clinical performance in front of their home crowd.
Senior Coach Michael Voss admits that Sydney outclassed his side and that Carlton didn't bring the strengths that they pride themselves on.
Here's what he had to say.
On Carlton's fast start:
"I certainly didn’t see where the game was going to go, that’s for sure, based on where it started. It felt like we started the game with most of the things that we’ve been planning and executing quite well.
"Credit to Sydney, they were able to step up a few things in their game and probably started more around the contest and got the territory on the game and that put us under pressure and our inability to absorb it made us chase the game a fair bit."
On Sydney's game:
"I felt we were fairly consistent at the start but Sydney just dialled up the pressure. They started to dial up what they were doing around the ball and we weren’t able to absorb it and we couldn’t create our own.
"It’s one thing for a team to turn it up, but you have to step it up yourselves and that’s the only answer. Their ability to retain the ball and be able to find a teammate and release to the outside, then get the game in transition left us chasing a fair bit.
"The game really turned in the third quarter when the centre-square bounce dominance, they kicked three or four goals, five for the game. That’s something they clearly looked at our game and thought they needed to invest a bit of time in and they executed it extremely well."
On the midfield game and forward transition:
"I just felt like we lacked any drive through the middle part of the ground. When you lack that drive and being able to own territory, then the guys up the front are always going to struggle a little bit. It’s a lot easier to read the play, it’s probably easier to come off and support, it’s a bit more predictable where the ball is going.
"It was pretty clear in terms of the game itself, it just wasn’t us and our identity, we just didn’t bring what we’ve brought to these contests over the last 12 months and we fell well and truly short.
"We felt like we had the matchup a little bit on Heeney early, but then Warner got off the hook and then we tried to shift onto him and Heeney got off the hook but that’s what good midfields do: they cover for one another if one isn’t having their best day.
"There’s some things in that that we’ll take away but there are a lot of things that we need to make sure we get back into our game ASAP."
On the lack of connection between lines:
"We look at things holistically and there were things we could’ve done better, from the ruck to the ground level to the outside support and it just wasn’t connected.
"So when you have that element of connection missing, that’s what happens and teams get on top of you. A game is made of mistakes, it’s never perfect, and teams have run-ons, but we also have some methods to be able to counter that should it happen.
"We couldn’t get the game in a fight, we couldn’t get the ball on the floor and they were just too clean being able to take it away. It’s something we’ll have to go away and work on."
On returning players:
"We’re expecting Saad and Motlop back next week, they got through training quite well so we’ve got a few guys coming back. Some of those other guys we’re still getting that assessment as to where they’re at."
