A GAME of momentum shifts.
It was a see-saw of territory battles at the MCG on Saturday night when the Blues challenged the Pies, but it was the old enemy that took hold of the occasion and secured a three-point victory.
Carlton Senior Coach Michael Voss admits that his side needs to double down on their consistency across four quarters and acknowledged that the Blues made strides towards this in the Round 21 clash.
Here's what he had to say.
On the fightback from the group:
"There were some genuine momentum shifts. We’ve been in a position where we couldn’t get the scoreboard there for a little while and I thought Collingwood were able to put some plays together that we couldn’t stop.
"It looked like there was a point in time where they could’ve got away from but I was really pleased that our group decided not to give up. They never gave up, they went to the line, and we gave ourselves the opportunity.
"[I was] really disappointed in one part but enormously proud that we were able to fight that game out to the end when we could’ve chosen something else."
On the players who stood up in the last quarter and embraced moments:
"[Cripps] was big. There were a few guys that were big in that moment, unfortunately, we were pretty clear on what we wanted to get done, we’ve had 24 inside 50s, that is astronomical in the last quarter, we had the dominance.
"When you have repeat entries like we had, it can be hard to score because of where everyone is. The needle started to move for us and we started to get a few more opportunities and that’s what this game is made of.
"It’s made of moments and there will be a lot spoken about 'Gov’s' last moment but that wasn’t the only moment we needed to get right. From the last month, that’s probably the best footy we’ve played, so we just have to take that form in the last quarter and lead into next week and get onto our next opponent."
On playing better footy for longer:
"When you look at the scoreboard, it says it’s not in our favour. We had a real shift in the way we wanted to play. We had the energy to match them around the ball with pressure, so I felt like we had more energy for that.
"We had some dips through the third quarter so we need to pick up our game there, but we’ve been playing some good footy for two quarters and then we’ve had two poor quarters. That one was probably closer to three and one we let ourselves down on."
On the injuries to Cerra, Cottrell and Curnow:
"We’ll get Cerra’s hamstring scanned, we’ll have to see where that is. Cottrell had the shoulder, so we were down to three men on the bench. Then Charlie came off with the ankle late, we’ll see how that pulls up but he was able to come back on the ground."
On the last-quarter opportunities in the front half:
"We were certainly getting looks. We were aiming up at contests and getting some forward ascendency and there were individuals that were doing very well through that part of hte game. When you’ve got numbers like that jumping up and crashing into each other, it’s pretty hard to track."
On the push for finals late in the season:
"Time says that and the games left says that. For us, everyone is urgent and we’ll stay composed through it as well. I thought tonight was a step in the right direction, we understand we’re not completely ‘back in connection through all phases of the game’, so that’s something we have to keep working on.
"The good thing about it is it’s all in our control and we’ve got our next opponents and we’ll go at them as hard as we can and finish off the best we can.
"When you don’t play with that edge and you’re not quite going at 100 per cent, that has a say and so does the opposition."
On the opposition faced in the last month:
"They’ve been pretty good and some of the form lines of the teams you’re talking about have been pretty fair. GWS and Western Bulldogs have been pretty handy teams, and Collingwood over time has been a pretty handy team.
"Right at the moment, it’s not as consistent as we want it and for long enough. When you play against good sides, that’s what they challenge.
"Good games like tonight, if I’m sitting there as a spectator, it was a pretty good game to watch, it was tough, it was hard to get metres, we got stuck in our back half for large periods of time and so did they, that has a very finals feel to it. If that’s the exposure we’ve got, then that sets us up very well for the next three weeks."
On the return of Jack Martin:
"He was good. He certainly has done good prep to get in, we had to be patient for obvious reasons. He’s a very important player to us with the way he plays and his presence in the forward line is much needed.
"Now it’s really for us to create cohesion, settle the team down a little bit, and not make a hell of a lot of changes just so we can build the chemistry within each line and we can dig into things we need to make a little more consistent."
