STAY present.

With another test coming tomorrow against another in-form opposition, AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss has told his players to get back to what they do best and not look too far ahead.

The Blues and Suns both meet with 6-4 records after 10 games in the 2024 campaign, with Carlton to host a Gold Coast side fresh off the largest score in their history last weekend against Geelong.

This is what Voss had to say.

On the game ahead:

“Looking forward to it. It’s another game for us to get out there and present our best. That’s all we’re worried about. The fact we get to play a home game in front of our supporter base once again, it’s a good opportunity.”

On what he wants to see against the Suns:

“We’re always trying to look at what our identity is and what we’re trying to bring to the table. Everything that we’ve ever spoken about - which you’ve heard us say on repeat - is around how we start at the contest. 

“We felt like we fell short last week in that area, it’s something that has stood up quite well over time. It’s something we’ve clearly valued over a long period of time as well. We’re trying to make sure that we get that in the right space. 

“Gold Coast bring a really strong game, as they showed last week against Geelong. They’ve got a really strong midfield and bat pretty deep, we’ll have our hands full there. We’ll also take our turn at the same time to be able to challenge the opposition, we’ve got some threats there to do that.”

On players returning from injury:

“They’ve all got through what they’ve needed to. Jesse got through as well but we’ll take a different path with him and play him through the VFL. The other boys seem to have gotten through quite okay and will be ready to go.”

On Lachie Fogarty’s return (the Blues are 14-2 since last year with him in the team):

“It’s an extraordinary record isn’t it! It says the importance of the role he’s played over a period of time. He’s tough, clean and hard and accepts his role. 

“We’ve talked about a lot of things we’ve built the foundation of this team off. We tend to get seduced by the bigger names in our team, if you want to call them match-winners that have proven that over time, but our real shift as a team has come through our role players. 

“It’s being able to get their jobs done and consistently being able to do it . . . Hopefully it speaks to the system we’re trying to build.”

On external versus internal noise:

“We appreciate that outside of us, there’s a whole shift in narrative — that’s what every Monday is for. We don’t live every Monday to Monday, we live in a bigger story. Part of that is embracing what those challenges look like. 

“Some go your way, some don’t, but what our job is to be able to provide the lessons and the clarity and then get after it again. We hope with consistency over time, that’s what we want to be able to create.

“Finding that level week to week is important to us, providing that consistency in how we see the game and ourselves and what we value, that’s consistent over time. That’s what we want to make sure we hit on repeat.”

On centre bounce changes with Marc Pittonet injured:

“Tom comes in[to the mix], simple as that! Not much changes. Tom’s done a great job, we started the season with him being able to do that. It probably means we look a bit different forward of the ball at different times. 

“We’ve looked at a whole pre-season and catered for both, we knew throughout the year that there’d be times we’d need to use both. We get to activate a slightly different method than what we’ve had in recent times.”

On the Club looking into injury occurrence:

“Over the last four or five weeks, when we had the soft tissue stuff emerge, we got after a few things. In some ways, we’ve got to keep training the right things and keep reinforcing the right things. One thing we’ve done over this period of time, which I think has been a real strength of our Club, is we’ve focused on what those challenges look like for us but we’ve also stayed pretty present. 

“We’ve focused on what’s in front of us and we’ve taken a squad mentality in everything we’ve done. We realise that the next man in has got to get the job done. Those guys - like a Fogarty coming back in - play a really important role for us. That’s all I ask our players to do, to stay present to the moment. 

“We’ve got a challenge in front of us tomorrow in the Gold Coast Suns who’ll present some real challenges to us, to make sure we get our game going. We’ve got a playing group good enough to get the job done and will pose some threats the other way — that’s all I’m worried about.”

On the midfield match-ups against Gold Coast:

“It’s still about putting our best team against their best team. There’s going to be some match-ups, some priorities within the midfield. They’ve got some guys in there in really good form that give them some drive. 

“We talk about Rowell and Anderson and Miller and those types of guys, they’ve been really important players. We’ll get the roles where we need to be able to get it done, hopefully we’ll get after a couple, but we’re also backing our boys in to bring that collective effort.”

On Marc Pittonet and Jack Martin’s availability:

Pittonet: “We’ll confirm timelines, but it’ll be only short-term.”

Martin: “Again, we’ll finalise all that and give more info early in the week next week.”

On the shorter quarters debate:

“There’s an argument for it. Covid gave us an opportunity to see what it looks like. There’s probably a couple of factors that go into that, and one of those is how long the season is. 

“If we want to extend the season, it probably becomes a higher priority in what we look for. I don’t see an immediate need under the existing system, but if we’re looking to lengthen the season and play more games, that conversation around shorter quarters becomes of real interest and possibly something to consider.”