For a club that had endured another catastrophic fadeout, life was remarkably composed in Carlton’s dressing room deep in the bowels of Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
President Rob Priestley had a quiet chat in the corner with chief executive Graham Wright, before heading over to the players’ 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.
If there was a plot to dismiss Michael Voss, the Blues’ coach under mounting pressure, it didn’t show.
Voss was also remarkably composed and resolute, talking of “perspective” in his post-match press conference, despite this stinging 10-point defeat – a 32-point, final-quarter turnaround, prompting more questions publicly about his future.
“[It’s] a hard one, [a] really hard one to take, because six, seven minutes out from the finish, you still feel like you’re in … a really, really good position in the game,” Voss said.
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’t “standing up in the big moments”.
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’s Hospital appeal and the “difference you can make in people’s lives”.
“Sure, people will have that conversation [about Voss’ future], they can go for it, but what we will do is … I have sat here in the winner’s chair, I now sit here in the loser’s chair,” Voss said.
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 ’90s.
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’ third-term blitzkrieg.
“We are all hurting because when you put your body on the line, and you are invested in something, coming off a short break … we understood the significance of the game just from what the game meant to people. I thought our players really embraced that moment,” Voss said.
“They took ownership of the previous week’s game. No one shirked a conversation. There were some pretty tough ones had, [players] looked in the eye, [and] went for it, but it’s not enough. You have still got to earn it, and we didn’t earn it.”
Voss said he did not think his players were mentally spooked when the contest was tight.
“I didn’t suspect it was that way today,” he said.
“I understand the query, probably in the last few weeks. When you get to know the group … 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’t walk past the fact that you are not finishing the game.
“Our ability to ice that game was from a really strong position, and we weren’t able to do that. We have just got to own that and go to work on that.”
But the problem is, the Blues have been working on how to “ice” 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.
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.
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’t enough when all was said and done.
This appears as much a structural issue as it is, despite Voss’ observation, mental. He suggested his men played “safe” in the dying minutes of the contest “and it didn’t work”.
“But that was not where the game was won or lost,” he said.
Jacob Weitering’s absence late in the game hurt, but the star full-back was there last week.
The Kangaroos sent Luke Parker behind the ball, and it worked a treat late in the game.
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, 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.
“We have, obviously, clearly got to make progress as a football team, and quickly,” Voss said.
For his own future, that progress has to start now.
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
