A WELL-FOUGHT win.

After a close first half, Carlton was able to foot the down against Richmond, taking home a 61-point victory with an emphatic second half.

The Blues were able to pile on 13 goals after the main break, with AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss hailing the team's effort to overcome a slow start and find different ways to hit the scoreboard.

Here’s what he had to say. 

On the match as a whole:

"We did start the game a little bit slower than we’d like, we didn’t hit the ground running. Credit to Richmond, they brought really good pressure and were really intent on making sure they defended well. They kept the scoreboard tight and they persisted.

"It felt like we needed to energise the game a bit, it felt like we were playing a bit too conservatively and a bit safe. At half time, we had a talk about that and how we corrected some of the contest to give us a bit more territory in the game. 

"The first five minutes after half time didn’t look so good, there were plenty of mistakes. But fortunately the boys stayed really present and didn’t labour on their mistakes too much and kept trying to play the right way. In the end, we were able to find our way through it."

On scores from turnover: 

"It’s been something that we have been gradually working away at. I think it was 96 points from turnover, so that’s a big number to be able to have that. It’s been well spoken about: we’ve spoken a lot about our stoppage and our contest and we know we’ve got that and we can go to that if needed.

"To be able to have a better balance in our game now, to ask the question a different way of the opposition – that’s an important attribute to have moving forward. If we’re going to have a say in this competition, you’ve got to have a better balance and I feel like we’ve had that for the majority of the year."

On the momentum behind multiple-goal runs: 

"I think the guys are believing somewhat in how we’re trying to play. Like anything, if you see it once, it’s good. If you see it twice, you get a little bit of confidence from it. If you start to see it a few more times, the belief starts to grow.

"The boys should be building some confidence off the back end of the games that they can play that style of football if needed. We’re not necessarily doing it from a negative position, we’re doing it from a positive position. We want to keep playing with that courage, play our game strong and challenge the opposition right to the very end."

On a wide spread of goalkickers: 

"Our two big guys cop a lot of attention, and so they should. We’ve been trying to work out what that forward line looks like and how many threats we have down there. We've probably been accused of not having enough, and we’ve acknowledged that, but we’ve also got two pretty good forwards there who do know how to kick goals.

"When it’s not their day, who joins in? Being able to share the load over the course of the last month has been particularly impressive. Zac Williams was able to hit the scoreboard, Fogarty kicked three, and Fantasia - who I was really pleased with - kicked four.

"'Raz' has been doing a role for us that has been somewhat unheralded, probably unnoticed in a lot of ways. He’s just stuck at it, hasn’t got desperate, believed in the job he had to get done and he hit the scoreboard today. It won’t always work out like that but it did today. Getting a few goalkickers on the floor, that’s going to be pretty important for us."

On key personnel returning: 

"Building into the back half of this year and having players return, that builds momentum when you have players who are in form and guys trying to vie for that position as well.

"It creates some internal drive and competition but also understanding that we prioritise those roles, we give status to those roles and we want to keep celebrating them. Today was one of those days where it wasn’t the talls marking it, but the smalls were able to have some impact on the game."

On Zac Williams' 150-game milestone:

"When I first got here, he struggled with the body and trying to get out on the park. For Zac, there's a lot of stuff he’s done around his footy and how he’s formed his identity as a person playing football. Family has always been really important to him and he’s had some real off-field challenges and football was taken away from him for a while.

"I think he’s really gone to work on himself. He’s got an unbelievable understanding around gratitude and perspective and who he is as a person, the family he has and the people who back him.

"His journey has been a special one to watch and to see where he’s at now and the joy on his face, seeing his family out there today was pretty special. He’s a very important person to us and will continue to be so. 

"It’s nice to have someone who celebrates a goal more than Matty Owies, it’s nice to see! Whenever I see that, and the boys and how they’re coming together as a forward line, that brings a smile to my face."

On Tom De Koning's late withdrawal: 

"The bigger picture is that we’re asking him to play big minutes - certainly over the last month - and he was just too sore. We got to yesterday and he was still really sore from last week’s game, so we took a conservative approach and we had a ruckman that could come in and play his aggressive best.

"I thought 'Pitto' really stuck at his guns for most of the game and in the second half, was able to have a say on what happened. He deserved it, and being able to take that squad mentality and the next man, he’s a pretty handy next man in. I guess we’ll get Tom back next week: to be able to have the week off and rest a few bruises isn’t a bad thing."

On Adam Cerra's substitution: 

"We had done some pre-planning that if we were in a position to do so [to sub him off]. We had Hewett, who has been in pretty good form himself, so we felt it was a like-for-like to manage his load in the game if we could."

On Patrick Cripps' form:

"It’s been pretty impressive. I think he’s playing with an element of freedom, he gets to concentrate on his job knowing he’s got men around him that will get their jobs done. I don’t feel like he’s overreaching, he's sticking at his job and he trusts the people around him and he has some bigger goals in mind.

"His leadership has been outstanding this year: what he does behind the scenes and the standards he’s trying to drive, he’s determined as anyone to get the best out of this group and he wants success for this football club and you can see it in the way he’s playing."