{"id":582682,"date":"2026-04-03T10:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T10:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:31:12","slug":"michael-voss-round-4-press-conference-carlton-blues-vs-north-melbourne-kangaroos-good-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/582682\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Voss Round 4 press conference, Carlton Blues vs North Melbourne Kangaroos, Good Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlton coach Michael Voss refused to concede his side\u2019s late-game fadeout was due to mental demons in its 10-point loss to North Melbourne on Good Friday<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Despite taking a game-high 22-point lead into the three-quarter-time break at Marvel Stadium, the Blues conceded the game\u2019s last five goals to again falter late in the piece. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was Carlton\u2019s \u201cworst nightmare\u201d<\/a> less than a week after Melbourne stunned Carlton with a 66-point turnaround in Round 3. <\/p>\n

The Blues were able to get first use at stoppage for a large portion of the afternoon, and increased its pressure in the second half in particular, but failure to \u201cmanage moments\u201d at the most crucial junctures cost them, said Voss. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, coming out of half-time, the challenge was laid bare for us to be able to step it up a gear,\u201d Voss said in the post-match press conference. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly did that, our tackle rate was low (in the first half) \u2014 I think mainly because there were so many uncontested marks from both teams. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut then to dial up the pressure in the third quarter and from that point on, I felt like \u2014 from quarter-time, to be fair \u2014 that looked like more of our game. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have to manage minutes, and we have to manage moments. And we didn\u2019t, and they were good enough to.\u201d<\/p>\n

3-2-1: Blues\u2019 \u2018worst nightmare\u2019 as Voss dangles by thread after ugly Good Friday capitulation <\/a><\/p>\n

McKercher speaks on 3rd QTR Clarko spray | 01:28<\/p>\n

Despite Marc Pittonet\u2019s ability to win in the middle against Callum Coleman-Jones with Tristan Xerri out, North stars Harry Sheezel, Luke Davies-Uniacke and George Wardlaw stepped it up around the footy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey got ascendancy around the ball, centre-square bounce, they got some good drive and territory, and that had us pegged back a little bit,\u201d Voss said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s a really hard one to take, because six, seven minutes out from the finish, you\u2019re still feeling like you\u2019re in a really good position in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voss was then asked if it\u2019d become a mental thing for the players – being able to close out games – prompting the veteran mentor to pause for a few seconds. <\/p>\n

He then said: \u201cI didn\u2019t suspect it was that way today. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut (I) understand the query, probably in the last few weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you look at the group, and you get to know your group pretty well, you can see how engaged they are and the detail in their roles. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir intensity around the contest, ability to have composure in the game when it was needed, and I thought for large parts of the game there are a lot of gains to acknowledge in that area. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we also can\u2019t walk past the fact that you\u2019re not finishing games. So, our ability to ice that game was from a really strong position, and we weren\u2019t able to do it. So, we\u2019ve just got to own that and go to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blues choke 22-point lead to Roos | 01:40<\/p>\n

Voss also said despite the fact that Jacob Weitering\u2019s exit due to concussion \u201cstressed our system\u201d, \u201cthat wasn\u2019t where the game was won and lost\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome moments of composure would have helped us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, to be able to take the sting out of the game and just be able to find when those points and moments are – when the crowd\u2019s going crazy and you have to finish the game – so, lots of gains to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demons icon Garry Lyon described Voss as \u201cdefiant\u201d in his press conference, while four-time flag-winner Jordan Lewis predicted it\u2019d be \u201chysteria\u201d in the coming days after the Blues\u2019 latest fadeout. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Voss) always controls himself in the press conferences really well, but it\u2019s the position that they didn\u2019t want to find themselves in, and they\u2019ve found themselves in it again,\u201d Lewis said during Fox Footy\u2019s post-match coverage. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at the moment, it just doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s any clear way out. That\u2019s his job; that\u2019s the job of the coaches and the football club.\u201d<\/p>\n

And things aren\u2019t about to get any easier for the Blues, with Adelaide \u2014 without Weitering \u2014 Collingwood and Fremantle the upcoming fixtures. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be some tough times ahead,\u201d Geelong great Tom Hawkins said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton coach Michael Voss refused to concede his side\u2019s late-game fadeout was due to mental demons in its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,12129,3239,285396,285397,1119,31761,10145,14414,3231,19080,25546,285400,3257,7204,24302,4873,668,6177,85,285398,285399,19118,14428,187505],"class_list":{"0":"post-582682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-callum-coleman-jones","14":"tag-carlton-blues","15":"tag-centre-square-bounce","16":"tag-demons-icon","17":"tag-football-club","18":"tag-four-time-flag-winner","19":"tag-garry-lyon","20":"tag-george-wardlaw","21":"tag-jack-jovanovski","22":"tag-jordan-lewis","23":"tag-luke-davies-uniacke","24":"tag-manage-moments","25":"tag-michael-voss","26":"tag-north-melbourne-kangaroos","27":"tag-post-match-coverage","28":"tag-post-match-press-conference","29":"tag-press-conference","30":"tag-press-conferences","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-tackle-rate","33":"tag-three-quarter-time-break","34":"tag-tom-hawkins","35":"tag-tristan-xerri","36":"tag-veteran-mentor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582682","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=582682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}