RISE to the occasion.
With plenty happening heading into the 30th edition of the Peter Mac Cup on Thursday night, AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss wants his side to have the courage to embrace everything that comes with another bumper clash against the old rival.
Here’s what he had to say.
On Will White’s debut:
“A pretty good story. He’s been a Carlton supporter all his life, came through our VFL program and been here for a while. He trained with us over the Christmas period during pre-season and elevated himself. It was a bit unexpected to see him come through and find himself on a list: when you persist with things and keep the dream alive, he’s going to be able to play against Collingwood at the MCG in a very big game. He’s a pretty excited young man.
“He’s got some speed. His presence and zippiness is something we want on the ground, he’s a great runner and will bring that speed. He’s full of life and full of energy, he’s going to be pretty excited - we’ll try and make it as normal as possible for him, it’s going to be very different for him.”
On the Carlton-Collingwood rivalry:
“They’re huge. Being able to watch all the classic games through the ‘80s, that’s probably my era - to see them go toe-to-toe, one of the unique things about them is no matter where you sit or what time of the season it is, they have huge importance.
“There’s something about when you look at the calendar, you circle it and it’s something you look forward to. In our most recent history, we’ve had some very close ones that a few more have gone against us than have gone for us. It shows you how tight these games are: often it comes down to moments, and whether or not you get to own them.”
On Harry McKay:
“We won’t go into the H stuff, the important thing is we don’t get into a weekly dialogue of where he’s at. We’ve been pretty sound on our position as a club that when he’s named in the team, he’ll be ready to go. As an industry, we’ve been really supportive and that’s where we’ve got to stay right now.”
On Zac Williams:
“Zac trained yesterday and got through a full session. If he pulls up well today, he should play.”
On addressing second halves:
“It’s more reinforcement and persisting with what we want to see. Everyone has seen it, we’ve seen great patches and we’ve seen patches where we’ve fallen away. It’s not like we don’t expect opposition to play good football, they’re going to have their 10 or 15-minute patches, but we’ve obviously got to minimise it more than how it currently stands.
“The ability to stick on our task and stay present right throughout, that’s what it’s going to require. We’ve had opportunities, it’s going to come down to how we maximise them.”
On talk around Tom De Koning’s future:
“Our job is just to keep the environment sound and a place he wants to be at. That’s our job. I feel like we’ve been able to do that: I look at Tom’s form, and he’s been in very good form. So I know he’s in great condition and a great headspace and he loves being here. That’s the part we get to look after.”
On Craig McRae:
‘Fly’ and I talk a fair bit, it’s nothing unusual. But any time you get into competition, it’s the other side - you’ve got your job, he’s got his, and you wouldn’t expect it to be any different. Football has its place, and once the battle is over, that relationship continues. I’d expect it to be no different.
On concerns over 0-3:
“What I’m more concerned about is we keep following through on how we expect to play. I know as a collective when we get that done, that’s helped us in the past and will help us now. It’s where my focus lies - on Collingwood, and how we execute.
“It’s an exciting game to be involved in. The game itself, the occasion, we look forward to that. We look forward to playing in front of big crowds, against Collingwood, being able to take the moments when they present themselves. That’s where my energy goes.”
On the team’s profile:
“Territory on the ground is what every club is looking for. I don’t know if there’s any club that would come here and say that it’s not. But it’s one part of the game. We were top four in transition last year, but 17th for defending stoppages. We’re always looking for the balanced profile. One part of our game is not as good as what we want it to be, so we’ve got to make sure we address it. That comes with persistence and reinforcement and courage to play the same way.
“Over time, last year we were very sound in that area [transition] but it’s not as exact as we want it now, and the other area was not in healthy shape but we’ve been able to correct some of that. It shows you need to have a balanced profile, and we don’t have that right now - not yet, anyway.”
On Elijah Hollands returning via the VFL:
“He will. He played in the practice match on Saturday, which is good. Elijah has been able to take some time away from the Club, but over the last little while, he’s had more presence within the program to the point where he played on the weekend. How he finds his way back into the team is by putting in a solid performance: it comes down to a performance discussion of when he comes back into the team.”
