CONTINUING to build.
Sunday night marked the sixth time in the last eight games that the Blues have played a team sitting in the top four, and it was the fourth time they've come away with a win.
Few Carlton wins are sweeter than those over the arch rival, with Michael Voss lauding the mentality of his side to overcome a difficult third term and storm towards a third consecutive win.
This is what he had to say.
On how he saw the game play out:
"It was territory versus efficiency. When you looked at the game itself, through the third quarter they had complete dominance. We couldn’t get the ball out of our back half, but they couldn’t score — or it was hard to score. Credit to them, they were able to pin us in a lot. We had 38 back-of-centres, which is just an extraordinary number.
"Coming into the last quarter, we had 24 inside 50s. To correct it . . . it’s one thing to be under pressure, so the chance to be able to come into three-quarter time and reset and hold as best as we possibly could. For the boys to be able to come in at three-quarter time and then do what they did, it shows the belief that’s growing within this team.
"The last three weeks, we’ve played against quality opposition and ran out the game really strong. To beat us, you’re got to play four quarters, and that’s something we’ve had to develop as a football team for a while. It hasn’t just arrived, it’s something we’ve had to work on for a little while."
On how things compare to this time 12 months ago:
"It probably shows how quickly things can change. Don’t take for granted where you are. We’ve hard to earn our right to get here. I look at where the season is at and our consistency. We’ve had good visibility on the competition compared to what we’ve played against.
"Over the last 11 rounds, we’ve played all of the top 10, so we’ve got a really clear visibility on where we are and what we’ve got to get to work on. Clearly there are still some gaps we need to address, but you’d say in terms of things we’ve had to go to work on from early in the year to now, we’re certainly producing a lot more consistent performances."
On players stepping up with Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh's influence quelled:
"Time and time again, we’ve proven that. The change in the culture is not feeling like we have to rely on one person to get it done. We’ve talked about giving roles status within our team, and one of the real strengths amongst our leaders is asking the question of if it’s not my day today, I’ve got to make it somebody else’s.
"Fortunately there’s a number of other guys that stepped up. They still held their own, they still did a good job, but others came to the fore which was pleasing to see."
On where the team sits at the midway point of the season:
"We are where we deserve, the ladder doesn’t lie. We’ve had to do it with some challenges, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. We’ve been facing these top teams week after week after week and we’ve had some challenges. With that has come opportunity.
"We’ve taken it as an opportunity to try a few things and see where we can grow next. As it turns out, there’s been a couple of roles that have emerged and maybe just helped us out a little bit."
On Cincotta's role on Zach Merrett:
"He’s done a great job. He’s clearly task-focused, and you’ve seen ‘Cinc’ — he’s powerful. He’s strong over the ball and doesn’t get knocked off it. He’s powerful, he’s hard to beat. It was something we thought about as a match committee a bit over a month ago, he’s been able to take on those jobs and do them very well.
"His teammates have helped him around him and helped put him where he needs to be, he’s got the confidence from the other guys to be able to get that job done and it enables our mids to get to work."
On what Elijah Hollands has brought to Carlton:
"You improve your system a couple of ways, one is obviously trying to execute it a bit better and you’re always looking for ways to make it better. The other way is to add some personnel to it.
"‘Lij’ coming in, and early days through pre-season - this is going back a long way - he showed a real high level to be able to understand the game, his decision-making and thinking through roles like that. We had an enormous amount of confidence coming into the year about what he could do, and he’s been able to execute that extremely well.
"Tonight, he was able to hit the scoreboard, and I think that’s another pleasing aspect: we’re getting multiple goal scorers now. It’s not just through a couple of guys. They could do that if we need them too, I’ll never stop encouraging that! But it’s nice when the ball hits the floor to have some dangerous players."
On Harry McKay coming from the ground late:
"Shoulder. We’ll assess that. He got hit in the shoulder. He was able to strap it and come back on. For me to be able to form a prognosis out of it, I don’t know: I’ll have to wait until Monday to find that out."
On the first McKay versus McKay match-up:
"It was a pretty tough one. I’m sure Tracey is sitting there going ‘thank God that’s over’. As I said, you always dreaded Mum’s phone call on Monday to make sure nothing sinister happened. They had a great contest.
"We’re pleased with what Harry did and I’m sure Essendon is happy with what Ben was able to get. I’m sure they’ll face up against each other sometime soon."
