"YOU WON'T see me downplaying this win."

While the ladder said it was second versus 17th coming into Round 19, Michael Voss and Carlton knew they were going to be up for the fight when hosting North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.

That's exactly what they got.

The vastly improved Roos had a first-half lead over the Blues, but the home side was able to respond with a 19-point win for their 12th victory of the season.

This is what Voss had to say.

On how he saw the game:

"It was an extremely hard game, but from the outside I think it’d look like a high-quality game. We had to go all the way. The tendency when you’re coming in, it’s very easy to look at positions on the ladder and make your judgments based off that. We’re not that football team, we’re not that football club. We’ve got some important steps we need to be able to take from now until the end of the season, so we treat every team the same.

"Recent results would say their reality is a hell of a lot better than what they were at the start of this year. We gave them the respect they deserved, we knew their game was in pretty good order: they had one off one against Sydney, but other than that they’ve been pretty good since the bye.

"We were fully aware of what was coming, we probably didn’t handle a couple of things through the second quarter that we needed to change. The speed of the game wasn’t exactly how we wanted it to be, but we made those adjustments and we were obviously able to correct it in the third quarter which gave us the margin we were after."

On how the second quarter played out:

"That was the part that was concerning us the most. It was a little bit of contest, the outnumber ball was giving us a few issues that we need to correct method-wise, some structure we needed to change to help us with that. We were probably fuelling their transition game as well, by the way we were playing.

"There were a couple of things we needed to correct, and to credit the opposition, they tested us in a few areas when it came to that part of the game. Fortunately we were able to correct, sometimes this game is about adapting, about responding and overcoming. It wasn’t just our style, we had players that kept coming off the ground that we needed to keep checking and guys had to step up.

"You won’t see me downplaying this win. I thought it was a really healthy win, all things being considered."

On returning to the winner's list:

"I think it’s been a bit of a build. We were okay against the Dogs but not brilliant. Defensively, I feel like we haven’t had that same pressure around the ball over the last couple of weeks. That has made it tough. We’ve thought the scoreboard would do the work for us, thinking we can outscore teams: we’ve got that if we need it, but it’s not what we base our game off.

"Today, I was more concerned about how we played, and I saw a group of players that were hungry to get after contest. They were able to get speed at the opposition and put them under pressure. It wasn’t exactly going our way in the first, but in the second half, we felt like we were able to do that for most of the second half."

On the physical toll coming out of the game:

"We’ve got a few we need to assess, but they got through the game okay. They needed a few checks. TDK with the foot, he was treated but went back out there. ‘Walshy’ was another one with the back, he got kneed there so we need to see how that settles but he got through the rest of the game.

"Durdin as well, it was almost a welcome back to AFL footy after not playing for a while, it was a pretty taxing game for him. I thought he did a great job to be able to play within the system and his role down back, it was a pretty important role he needed to play for us."

On any extra concerns for Walsh:

"I don’t think so. He had a direct knock there and as far as I’m aware, that’s all it is."

On a five-day break this week:

"We’ve done it pretty well before. We had a little dress rehearsal against Port Adelaide actually, so we get to play the same time [off the same break] at this venue. We should be well versed in what we need to be able to do next."

On how the team played out the final quarter:

"We’ve got to play those scenarios as a footy team well. I think we’ve done that particularly well over the last 18 months, to be able to take our moments. What was also important at three-quarter time was that playing slow wasn’t going to get the job done for us. We needed to keep playing the same way, keep challenging the opposition.

"We had a few of those moments, but the game was certainly put in the fight and North certainly wasn’t going to give it away. They’re playing an aggressive style of football, and we knew they’d keep coming. It was important for us to keep playing the same way. We shut the game down in the end, took the scoreboard off them and we were able to find a win."

On role changes coming into - and during - the game:

"There were a couple of positive ones. Matty Kennedy being able to go back in the second half and Cincotta being able to go forward and play his usual role, that speaks to the squad mentality and our roles. In the last couple of weeks, maybe we’ve stepped away from that too much. We haven’t put our hand up when it was our turn and invest ourselves totally within the team. If I was being critical of anything, that’d be it.

"Today, the boys stayed present. We responded when challenged, we had to overcome and adapt and change some roles and I was really pleased with what we got out of it."

On constantly looking for the best version of themselves:

"We’re not a fixed product. We’re constantly evolving, we’re not looking to overhaul anything at this stage of the year but we are still trying to find out about us. There are some things we can do that help us find out a little bit more about us. If that means a positional change to be able to do that, then so be it.

"There is a fine line because we want to be settled, we want to build cohesion and connection — that’s obviously really important. You never know what a game is going to throw at you, we had one of those games today where we had to make some adjustments. The boys were able to play out the game pretty well and we were able to look at the game tactically and change a couple of things."

On Harry McKay coming off for assessment:

"I couldn’t speak to specifics of the time, but what I do know is the protocol was there and we got notified that we needed to get him off the ground. He came off the ground, went into the protocols and fortunately he was able to respond and be okay. He was able to keep the game going.

"The downside was we had to hold our tactical sub to work out whether we needed to change Harry or not. That’s a different discussion maybe in time, but certainly not today. I feel like we followed what we needed to and Harry got the care he needed."

On Blake Acres being subbed out:

"He was hobbling around a bit with a couple of bumps and bruises he was battling with and probably wasn’t moving as well. He was keen to go on, but we just felt we had some fresh legs so once we knew Harry was okay, we could go with something different."

On the result as a whole:

"I thought it was a great response today. It was fantastic the way the boys responded. You can tend to look at outcomes and how the scoreboard is looking, and not respect the opposition and what they’re doing, but I felt like all our players were completely present and stayed connected with each other.

"They were still getting jobs done, but there were still corrections and adaptations to make within the game. One of those was ball speed, we were throwing the ball about by hand a bit too much which was causing us some issues."

On how the forward line functioned:

"What I’ve been particularly impressed with our forward line is they’re absolutely sharing the load amongst one another. You talk about the small bits of growth over a period of time that we’ve learned, it’s unfair to sit there and say Harry and Charlie.

"You’ve got a group down there that are working really well together, they celebrate each other’s success and have a really clear idea of what their roles are. They’ve got their own special connection down there that bunch, but they really thrive and bring energy for us.

"Both those boys [Jesse Motlop and Matt Owies] are bringing that energy for us and bringing some presence on the floor.