In the quick aftermath of Carlton‘s surprise drubbing by Adelaide, Michael Voss warned his charges that they must accept every bit of criticism that comes their way after the Blues flubbed their lines on the big stage.
Carlton wilted under the intense spotlight of Thursday night‘s opening match of the much-hyped Gather Round at Adelaide Oval, conceding eight goals to the fired-up Crows in the first quarter to ultimately suffer the side’s first lack of the season by 56 factors.
The evening was made worse with ruckman Marc Pittonet subbed out within the second quarter with a watch damage, and defender Adam Saad compelled to take a seat out the final quarter-hour of the match with a hamstring concern.
Voss was desperately dissatisfied by the best way that his midfield was overwhelmed up on the contest and his defence leaked objectives early because the Crows had been rampant on their dwelling deck to open the AFL’s “Gather Round”.
“We‘ll accept what comes our way, but we can’t do much about that now,” Voss mentioned.
“We can only go about it in the coming week and prepare for the next opponent … that‘s all we get the chance to do.
“What will be said will be said.
“Whatever (criticism) comes our way we accept that, but what we‘ve got to do is pick apart this around what worked and what didn’t then see what we can put into action immediately and there will be some other longer-term things that we need to continue to address.
“The importance of this particular round was discussed, the focus that this round brings, and we had a great opportunity to kick off this weekend.
“There was going to be extra focus and scrutiny on this game, and we were looking forward to that.
“That‘s not foreign to us now, we’re well supported, and we didn’t do the right thing.”
Voss counted the profitable return of Sam Walsh from low season again surgical procedure as certainly one of few positives from the efficiency.
In his first recreation in eight months, Walsh had a team-high 25 possessions and kicked a team-lifting purpose within the second quarter.
But even after Walsh had helped drag Carlton again into the competition after quarter-time, Voss bemoaned his facet‘s inability to capitalise on its forward forays as well as Adelaide did at the other end.
“What I‘m at least pleased with is that we stayed connected as a footy team for two-and-a-half quarters,” the coach said.
“It was evenly balanced there for a period of time, but efficiency inside 50 was playing too big a role.
“Even though we were back in the fight, going inside 50 we were just completely inefficient and every time they went in it felt like they were going to score.
“We just couldn‘t turn the tap off when it came to them scoring from inside 50s.”
Mitch McGovern was a late withdrawal after experiencing calf soreness in the warm-up but Voss was hopeful both he and Saad’s accidents weren’t too unhealthy.
“It was hamstring tightness, and that‘s all it is, but we just weren’t prepared to take that risk,” Voss mentioned of Saad.
“He felt like it was starting to tighten up a little too much.
“There was no incident.
“We‘ll assess that, but we hope that’s all it is.”
Originally printed as Carlton coach Michael Voss says the critics will come after being blitzed by Adelaide
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
