Voss\u2019 defiant reaction to Carlton\u2019s Swans smash-up<\/a><\/p>\nMcRae shuts down TWO off-field rumours | 09:00<\/p>\n
Walsh was Carlton\u2019s best on the night with 32 disposals and eight score involvements, but not enough of his teammates came with him when it mattered. <\/p>\n
Nine of Ollie Florent\u2019s 16 kicks were effective, while Jagga Smith had five effective kicks from 27 disposals. And despite their contested ball-winning capability, Cripps and Hewett combined for eight effective kicks on Thursday night. <\/p>\n
Saints great Leigh Montagna concurred, also raising a foot speed issue – with Swans Errol Gulden and Justin McInerney running rampant the other way. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s the concern, too, with the players they\u2019ve got. You watch Sydney\u2019s powerful run, and they can all run and transition,\u201d he said on Fox Footy. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, it was clear that Sam Walsh stood out, you can see Jagga Smith can go with Walsh, but how many other Carlton players in that team can run like those Sydney mids?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that\u2019s going to be the question. But even in that first half, they were dominating so many aspects of the game but weren\u2019t able to put any score on the board, so that also makes it hard for them \u2026 it\u2019s going to be, I think, a difficult year for the Blues and Michael Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curnow and co. cook Carlton in opener | 03:59<\/p>\n
Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall reiterated the Blues\u2019 brutal reality, explaining the futility of their contest-heavy approach without being able to really damage with ball use. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to change the way they play,\u201d he said post-match. <\/p>\n
\u201cAre they just going to be that contested bull that lacks a bit of polish? That doesn\u2019t win enough games. That doesn\u2019t get it done. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are plenty of teams that\u2019ll cop getting beaten at the contest, because they know they\u2019ll win it back at half-back, and then their skill will be superior, and they\u2019ll beat you on the scoreboard that way. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, just winning contest, being good at the contested ball, or being good at clearances and then lacking the polish to use the ball \u2026 they should have been four or five goals up, but they weren\u2019t, because of that lack of polish. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the thing is, you can identify what you need, but you can\u2019t just wave a wand and get it all in in one off-season – it takes time \u2026 they\u2019ve got some real problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several examples in the third quarter demonstrated the way the Swans were able to exploit the Blues getting sucked into the contest by swiftly spreading to the outside once possession was won. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear in that third term how quickly, or instantaneously, the Swans were able to outnumber Carlton on the outside,\u201d King said post-match. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was Heeney early, and I\u2019m not sure who his direct matchup was, because they were playing games as to whether they were rolling up as forwards, or whether they were actual true midfielders. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Carlton got confused, and in the end, didn\u2019t defend at all and left their backs on an island.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the Fox panel\u2019s breakdown in the video player below:<\/p>\n
‘They’ve got some real problems’ | 02:34<\/p>\n
Carlton\u2019s desire to be a contest-first team proved costly when it couldn\u2019t win the ball at the source, leaving Michael Voss\u2019 side hapless in transition on numerous occasions. <\/p>\n
The Swans scored 53 points from their defensive half on Thursday night – their second-best return for a match since the start of last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was interesting, when you asked Chad Warner (about the Swans\u2019 approach) he said \u2018definitely a plan\u2019,\u201d Montagna said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow, whether against Carlton it\u2019s a plan – because maybe they identified that Carlton is a team that does hunt the ball and maybe doesn\u2019t spread as well – or maybe it\u2019s something they\u2019re trying to do against the rest of the competition and get that advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warner had confirmed to the Fox Footy panel minutes earlier that Sydney wanted to get out ahead and expose Michael Voss\u2019 side with outside run. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, definitely,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of our strengths, over the past few years – we\u2019ve got great runners, power runners, and we have a good couple of roles forward of the stoppage. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to fight forward, get the ball in their hands and really test them out the front of the (contest) bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voss unsure what to make of loss | 07:07<\/p>\n
And while Voss in his post-game press conference refused to overreact to one loss, how the under-fire coach handles his playing group after Thursday night\u2019s loss is absolutely crucial. <\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t lost on Montagna, who warned of potential \u201cscarring\u201d in a similar fashion to the start of last season, when the Blues coughed up a seven-goal lead against Richmond which dictated the tone of their season. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be fascinating to see how Michael Voss does address this with his team right now,\u201d Montagna said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you remember 12 months ago against Richmond (in Round 1), they were 40 points up against and then absolutely capitulated and got beaten.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it was a different opposition, but that scarred them, and they went on to lose their first four games, and their season was basically done and dusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re shell-shocked but hopefully not scarred by this performance, and I think how Michael Voss speaks to this group now is going to be significant for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blues have winnable upcoming fixtures with Richmond, Melbourne and North Melbourne as they aim to avoid another sluggish start to the season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One game into the 2026 season, and we\u2019re already asking for answers from the Blues. For Carlton supporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-521797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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