{"id":583042,"date":"2026-04-03T14:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:36:17","slug":"carlton-blues-coach-michael-voss-acknowledges-the-pain-of-another-brutal-loss-this-time-to-north-melbourne-kangaroos-on-good-friday-with-his-coaching-future-on-life-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583042\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlton Blues coach Michael Voss acknowledges the pain of another brutal loss \u2013 this time to North Melbourne Kangaroos on Good Friday \u2013 with his coaching future on life support"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For a club that had endured another catastrophic fadeout, life was remarkably composed in Carlton\u2019s dressing room deep in the bowels of Marvel Stadium on Friday night.<\/p>\n

President Rob Priestley had a quiet chat in the corner with chief executive Graham Wright, before heading over to the players\u2019 families. Wright then had a composed discussion with senior assistant coach Ashley Hansen. Patrick Cripps, meanwhile, was also over with the families, and had his baby daughter in hand.<\/p>\n

\"CarltonCarlton chief executive Graham Wright after his club\u2019s loss to North Melbourne on Good Friday.Getty Images<\/p>\n

If there was a plot to dismiss Michael Voss, the Blues\u2019 coach under mounting pressure<\/a>, it didn\u2019t show.<\/p>\n

Voss was also remarkably composed and resolute, talking of \u201cperspective\u201d in his post-match press conference, despite this stinging 10-point defeat \u2013 a 32-point, final-quarter turnaround, prompting more questions publicly about his future.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] a hard one, [a] really hard one to take, because six, seven minutes out from the finish, you still feel like you\u2019re in … a really, really good position in the game,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kangaroos grabbed the lead for good when Harry Sheezel drilled a running goal with just over three minutes remaining, Sam Walsh later conceding the Blues weren\u2019t \u201cstanding up in the big moments\u201d.<\/p>\n

Voss largely bunted away a question from this masthead about whether he was still up for the challenge and was the right man to turn this season around, preferring to acknowledge the Good Friday occasion being about the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital appeal and the \u201cdifference you can make in people\u2019s lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, people will have that conversation [about Voss\u2019 future], they can go for it, but what we will do is \u2026 I have sat here in the winner\u2019s chair, I now sit here in the loser\u2019s chair,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

What is clear is this: these fadeouts have become a trend which could easily have the former Brisbane Lions star axed, and surely would have had this still been under the brutal John Elliott era of the 1980s or \u201990s.<\/p>\n

The Blues let slip a 43-point lead against Melbourne last week, while they also coughed up a half-time lead and lost to Sydney in opening round courtesy of the Swans\u2019 third-term blitzkrieg.<\/p>\n

\"BluesBlues coach Michael Voss expresses himself during the loss to North Melbourne.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all hurting because when you put your body on the line, and you are invested in something, coming off a short break \u2026 we understood the significance of the game just from what the game meant to people. I thought our players really embraced that moment,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took ownership of the previous week\u2019s game. No one shirked a conversation. There were some pretty tough ones had, [players] looked in the eye, [and] went for it, but it\u2019s not enough. You have still got to earn it, and we didn\u2019t earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voss said he did not think his players were mentally spooked when the contest was tight.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t suspect it was that way today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the query, probably in the last few weeks. When you get to know the group \u2026 and the detail in their roles, their intensity around contest, [and] ability to have composure in the game when it was needed, I thought for large parts of the game there were a lot of gains to acknowledge in that area, but we also can\u2019t walk past the fact that you are not finishing the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ability to ice that game was from a really strong position, and we weren\u2019t able to do that. We have just got to own that and go to work on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the problem is, the Blues have been working on how to \u201cice\u201d games for the past year, a period in which they have coughed up half-time leads nine times and lost, including the shock defeat to Richmond early last year. They have not won after trailing at half-time in that run, either.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Heading into this contest, they were ranked 16th for points, 18th for goals per inside-50 differential, and 13th for scores from turnover differential through 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Yes, they won a third quarter on Friday for the first time this season, and only the sixth time in their past 27 games. Cripps lifted after a miserable first half, while the Hollands brothers provided drive. But that wasn\u2019t enough when all was said and done.<\/p>\n

\"BluesBlues skipper Patrick Cripps leads his side in after the loss to North Melbourne.Getty Images<\/p>\n

This appears as much a structural issue as it is, despite Voss\u2019 observation, mental. He suggested his men played \u201csafe\u201d in the dying minutes of the contest \u201cand it didn\u2019t work\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that was not where the game was won or lost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jacob Weitering\u2019s absence late in the game hurt, but the star full-back was there last week.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Kangaroos sent Luke Parker behind the ball, and it worked a treat late in the game.<\/p>\n

The football world understands the Blues are not in the race for the flag, perhaps even a top-eight spot. But they should be in the running for the expanded top 10, as Priestley and Wright<\/a>, who knows how to exit a senior coach, have stipulated. The two bosses had said Voss will be judged on several things, but, ultimately, his job is to win games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have, obviously, clearly got to make progress as a football team, and quickly,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

For his own future, that progress has to start now.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-583042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583042","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=583042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}