"WE SEE this as a different campaign and we have to take the long way home if we’re optimistic."
Carlton AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss is looking forward to once again challenging the Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night.
With a few key weapons back in the team, Voss is confident that the desire for each player to execute their role is strong.
Here's what he had to say.
On playing in Brisbane:
"It's good to be back here, the weather is a bit better here than Melbourne. The conditions are near perfect.
"I think we’ll take whatever comes our way. At this stage of the year, it’s more about finals football and the opportunity to be able to play against a really good opposition: we’d take that anywhere."
On Charlie Curnow missing selection and travelling:
"He texted me this morning to let me know he was okay and fit to play! But we’ve decided not to, he’s not right to go. He’s been able to get some good valuable training under his belt this week, really hopeful that next week he’ll be right to go.
"He has his family up here so he wanted to come up to the game, he can certainly make that choice himself."
On the team inclusions:
"They’ve been there for a lot of the journey. Two or three haven’t played a lot of football this year, so they’re the ones we’ll keep an eye on, but the work that they’ve been able to do and the preparation they’ve been able to put in... high performance is very different back to when I played. We monitor them very closely and try and provide a game-like environment: we’ve been able to do that over the last few weeks, so we feel like they’re ready to go."
On Tom De Koning's return:
"It’s nice to have him back. We thought it might be a week later but to be able to have him out there and at some stage go in tandem with 'Pitto', it’s nice. He’s provided plenty of energy for us, he looks fit and healthy out on the track so he’ll be ready to go.
"He’s going to have to do a bit of both [ruck and forward] — with 'Pitto' in the side, he’ll have to do both. We’ve been pretty small down there the past few weeks, missing a few big players.
"With Harry as well, Kemp has been there, so we’ll look at his role and what he does. It’s a relatively new forward line to what we’ve had the last couple of weeks but they’ve gelled really well."
On the feel of finals:
"Coming into September, it’s always that new season feel to it. The home-and-away season is about consistency and the finals are about capacity and we’ve felt like we’ve played at a really high level throughout periods of the season.
"We’d like to always play for a bit longer, we’d like a better starting point on the grid, but this is where we find ourselves. What we’ve found out through the year is that we’ve been really hard to beat and we’ve got a few weapons ourselves that we can get after: we’ve got to make sure we do our best and get the job done."
On playing Brisbane in finals again:
"It’s all part of our experiences. We had a prelim here that was a really intense final and had some momentum shifts. A few months later in Opening Round was the same. That’s what we expect finals to be, momentum shifts and playing against a very good side.
"They were Grand Finalists last year so they know the caper, they’ve been in finals for a number of years. This is our second go at it now but we feel we’re really well placed to have a real shot at it."
On Sam Docherty's return:
"I think he’s got a few runs on the board over a period of time. He’s walking around going ‘what’s the big deal?’, it’s all of us that are asking these questions and talking about this scenario and this venue, he just wants to get on with it and he’s done a heap of work.
"We’re not operating off one session, we’ve got a body of work that he’s been able to get over the course of the last two or three months. He’s going in extremely confident, we’re extremely confident he can get a role done for us.
"He’s incredible with his resilience over a period of time, nothing shocks me with 'Doc'.
"He’s incredibly resilient, he’s composed, his leadership is welcomed and he just needs to make sure he goes out and gets his job done, he doesn’t need to be any more than that."
On the reaction from the playing group:
"First of all, I went to ‘Crippa’ and said ‘do you want to give the news?’ and he couldn’t wait to tell him. Then it got a bit bigger than what we thought but you can see how much he means to us by the response that he got.
"The most important thing ‘Doc’ wants is not about him, it’s about what the team does. He more than anyone knows the importance of this game to us as a footy club and he’s invested in making sure he gets it done."
On the threat of Brisbane:
"They’re a super side. If you look at their form line in the back half of the season, it’s clearly impressive. They’ve been a consistent footy team for a long time now, they’ve played in a few finals series, they’re very familiar with each other and have strong cohesion amongst each other.
"It’s not going to be easy, we’re going to have to make sure we bring our absolute best. We feel like we’re well and truly up for that.
"We’ve got to make sure we get our style of play right, we’ve got to make sure we bring our contest, take away a few of their marks — they’re a very good side at being able to deny the ball for a long period of time.
"They’ll ask a few questions of us but our system is going to take 18 men to get it done."
