{"id":596001,"date":"2026-04-09T16:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/596001\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:21:18","slug":"michael-voss-press-conference-for-carlton-blues-loss-to-adelaide-crows-second-quarter-blitz-second-half-fade-outs-patrick-cripps-starts-on-bench-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/596001\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Voss press conference for Carlton Blues, loss to Adelaide Crows, second quarter blitz, second half fade outs, Patrick Cripps starts on bench, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlton coach Michael Voss has lamented his side being exposed in a 10-minute blitz that looked to seal their fate in a 28-point loss to Adelaide on Thursday night<\/a> to open Gather Round.<\/p>\n

As they have done all season so far, the Blues burst out of the blocks to pile on seven goals before quarter time in a clearance demolition like no other under Crows coach Matthew Nicks. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL 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

However, a seven-point lead at the first break turned into a 21-point deficit in a matter of literal minutes to begin the second stanza, before a torrential downpour during and after half time prevented either side from playing free-flowing football for the rest of the night.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists post-game, Voss rejected the idea that Carlton\u2019s start to the season felt like one deserving of a 1-4 win-loss record, noting the gradual improvement he\u2019s seen week-by-week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so. Obviously it\u2019s been well-spoken about the couple of games we let go, so that always puts a little bit of tension (on),\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be sitting here lowering any standard, because we don\u2019t win the game. But what I can\u2019t question of the players, is the effort and spirit they\u2019re bringing to wanting to get better \u2014 and turning up every day to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, simple indicators like having 86 tackles and the communication we\u2019ve been trying to work on. All those little things and marginal improvements that we\u2019re looking to get better at, it\u2019\u2019s closer to where we need it to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not finished, but it\u2019s closer to where it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Round 5 fixture was the first time all season the Blues didn\u2019t lead going into the changerooms at half time, instead holding a four-goal deficit. In completely different conditions for the back half of the game, the away side finished only four-point losers in the second half.<\/p>\n

Adelaide\u2019s nullifying of Sam Walsh \u2014 who had 15 disposals and nine score involvements to quarter time \u2014 evidently played a major role in their swinging of the momentum throughout the second term.<\/p>\n

Carlton captain Patrick Cripps had 12 disposals, six clearances and four centre clearances of his own in the opening 37 minutes, but started the next term on the bench as the Crows piled on the next half a dozen clearances amid their scoring spree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just share the load. We don\u2019t ask any player to play 100 per cent of game time. I can\u2019t believe those sorts of things are still questions,\u201d Voss said when asked about Cripps\u2019 interchange time to begin the second quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur midfield group gets the job done. The skipper (Cripps) started great, he had a very good night which was great to see. And there were some very important players that returned to some form.<\/p>\n

Voss (right) shouts instructions from the bench during Thursday night’s loss to Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval during Gather Round (Photo by Michael Willson via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better than a team that has to have him in there for the entirety of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we were probably able to do was get a few more players through there. Again, sharing the load a fair bit more. So we\u2019ll continue to see what that looks like if we\u2019re afforded the opportunity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a second-half fade out was avoided for the first time in 2026 on Thursday night, a deep analysis of the second quarter slaughter will still be front of mind come review.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game asked questions for the entirety of the game … there\u2019s no guarantees how you finish the game, versus how your first halves are. Every game presents a new opportunity to put your game style to work,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a large portion of that game, particularly the second half, we were able to dominate the field position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last quarter I thought we played it out really strong … we set the game up okay, but the second quarter for 10 minutes, we weren\u2019t touching the ball a whole lot.<\/p>\n

‘Out of whack’ – Pay coaches more! | 02:17<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be something to go back to look at clearly, because that\u2019s where the game was lost in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Partly given the horrid second-half weather, it was a tough night for key forward Harry McKay up forward, who was well-held by James Borlase \u2014 perhaps too well-held at times Voss suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Harry competed really hard \u2014 sometimes against three players. He could have been a little bit luckier tonight maybe in some contests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he could have been rewarded a little bit more. I\u2019ll go back, just to make sure I\u2019m not making any accusations there, but I thought he showed up in those contests and was really strong in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlton\u2019s next chance to double their win record for the season comes next Thursday night in an MCG blockbuster against age-old rivals Collingwood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton coach Michael Voss has lamented his side being exposed in a 10-minute blitz that looked to seal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[9126,638,64,63,55,639,7491,3239,28962,290914,290911,262465,38429,12099,2105,290912,290915,290913,290910,16712,3257,7198,7800,668,9195,290916,23596,1138,1820,157252,85,117757],"class_list":{"0":"post-596001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-adelaide-crows","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-ben-dixon","15":"tag-carlton-blues","16":"tag-centre-clearances","17":"tag-clearance-demolition","18":"tag-coaches-wages","19":"tag-fade-outs","20":"tag-game-losing-streak","21":"tag-game-time","22":"tag-getty-images-inc","23":"tag-gradual-improvement","24":"tag-horrid-second-half-weather","25":"tag-interchange-time","26":"tag-literal-minutes","27":"tag-matthew-nicks","28":"tag-michael-voss","29":"tag-michael-willson","30":"tag-patrick-cripps","31":"tag-press-conference","32":"tag-quarter-blitz","33":"tag-quarter-slaughter","34":"tag-quarter-time","35":"tag-sam-walsh","36":"tag-score-involvements","37":"tag-scoring-spree","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-win-loss-record"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596001","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=596001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}