‘We let our club down’: Under-siege Voss on another nightmare Blues result

A shattered Carlton coach Michael Voss said the Blues had “let our club down” following their 56-point thrashing at the hands of a dominant Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.

The under siege Voss said he would not speculate beyond this week about his own coaching future because “it’s not for me to do”.

The Collingwood capitulation was the Blues’ third poor showing across the past three weeks – an upset loss to the Kangaroos, a meek surrender against Port Adelaide and then a football lesson at the hands of the Magpies.

“We let our club down tonight,” Voss said. “You know, we want our supporters to be proud of us, and we didn’t do that tonight.

“There’s an expectation of a way we want to be able to play, and we didn’t do that tonight. So that’s something that we’re going to have to sit with.

“We are not going to avoid that conversation. If we have to cop our whack, well, we have to cop it because we can’t tolerate that. That was a really poor performance.”

While Voss was fronting the media, Carlton’s hierarchy were shown inside the rooms in deep discussion. President Rob Priestley, outgoing CEO Brian Cook, incoming CEO Graham Wright and football manager Brad Lloyd were all standing together in a tight circle.

What they decided might not become evident until early next week.

Carlton pushed the Magpies in the opening term, trailing by six points at the first break, but then they continually coughed up the ball to be outscored 12 goals to three in the next two terms.

Voss said he was not dwelling on his own future.

“The only thing I ever think about as a leader is my people,” he said. “So, that’s where the focus lies for me.

“Every day I come into work, I get to choose how I want to be, what type of leader I want to be, and that means I get a chance to impact, and we’ve got to shift the needle. That will take a collective effort to be able to do that.

“So there’ll be a lot of leaning on our leaders this week around what we want that to look like and how consistent we want that to be.

“That expectation has been set. It’s been set previously here, and it will stay the same. We’ve got to be much better than what we are, and we’ve got to lead our way out of that. And that starts absolutely with me.”

Voss said there were a number of critical components of Carlton’s game that needed to get better.

“But the only thing I’m really worried about right now is ensuring that we continue to support our people and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” he said.

“So this goes well beyond just, you know, when we talk about our support teams and our players, this goes to families as well. So how are we supporting them?

“So all those are the sorts of things about pressure and, you know, messaging they are the least of my concerns right now.”

Collingwood 17.13 (115) defeated Carlton 8.11 (59)

Carlton coach Michael Voss dragged his playing group behind closed doors after their thrashing at the hands of Collingwood at the MCG as his coaching career is surely teetering on the brink.

After a spirited opening term, Voss looked on haplessly from the coach’s box as the Blues were outpointed for the next two quarters and were ultimately beaten by 56 points.

Midfielder George Hewett revealed that Voss told the players in the private meeting that they didn’t bring the three things they had needed to beat Collingwood: contest, pressure and tackle efficiency.

“We tried to aim for a high number of tackles, but we only got 46 so it probably shows that our effort wasn’t there against a quality side,” Hewett told 3AW after the game.

There were so many deficiencies for Voss to highlight, chief among them being poor disposal.

Incoming CEO Graham Wright was an interesting spectator in the MCG stands during the game, and he has a power of work to do with the once mighty club when he gets his feet under the desk next month.

But the MCG capitulation will put enormous pressure on the club’s sitting hierarchy, president Rob Priestly and outgoing CEO Brian Cook, in terms of his Voss’ immediate coaching career. Can they wait for Wright?

The killer was the third term when Collingwood booted eight goals to Carlton’s two. They were simply cleaner and more precise with the footy.

Where Carlton would continually butcher the ball going forward, dumping kicks on top of their teammates, the Magpies midfielders were cool and calculated.

“They are what they are,” Fox Footy commentator Garry Lyon said of the Blues. “They are horrible kicking football side. Horrible. And that goes from the top down.

“Adam Cerra was butchering the footy today. And you know we don’t pick on the Cooper Lords of the world, but if you want to be an A-grade footballer, if you want to survive long enough to have a career in footy, you can’t kick in the manner that they kick. And that becomes a list analysis decision that they’re going to have to make.”

Fox Footy’s Jordan Lewis said the damning thing for Carlton was their midfield mix and getting soundly beaten in the post-clearance game.

“They just can’t spread, they can’t link up, they can’t kick,” Lewis said. “There are so many parts of their game at the moment that aren’t where they need to be.”

Hewett said the playing group was still behind their coach.

“We just want to do him proud, but we are just not doing it, which has been tough the last couple of weeks,” Hewett said.

Collingwood’s forwards had a field day.

Jamie Elliott has had his best-ever year in front of goal with his 41 so far this year surpassing his 2023 season. He booted four for the night against Carlton, as did Dan McStay, while Brody Mihocek and Tim Membrey both kicked two.

The Daicos brothers dominated the midfield. Nick Daicos was clearly best on ground with 36 disposals and a goal, while Josh was dominant early and finished with 27 possessions.

Tom Mitchell also had an encouraging return after 14 months out of the senior side due to injury, picking up 26 disposals.

To add salt into the wound, Carlton’s best player across the first three quarters, Zac Williams (three goals), was subbed out of the game in the third term with a knee injury.

FT: Magpies 17.13 (115) def Blues 8.11 (59)

That’s all, folks. Thanks for joining us, footy lovers, on what was a painful night for the Blues.

But it was smiles all round for the Collingwood faithful after their 56-point win at the MCG. The Magpies are looking sweet in top spot and have all but locked in a top-two finish.

Be sure to join us from 12.35pm on Saturday when Essendon and Gold Coast kick off another cracking afternoon of footy.

While Michael Voss’ coaching future has become a major talking point in Melbourne following Carlton’s 56-point loss to Collingwood, the Giants have romped to victory over West Coast in Perth. The Giants beat the Eagles by 59 points – 16.15 (111) to 8.4 (52).

Toby Greene led the goal-kicking table with three majors, and the first of those goals brought up 400 for his AFL career.

He also turned his attention toward young Eagles star Harley Reid, with the pair clashing in the first quarter after Reid dumped Giant Ryan Angwin with a sling tackle. Another Giant Tom Green also clashed with Reid.

GWS star Finn Callaghan was the standout player of the night with 37 disposals.

A shattered Carlton coach Michael Voss said the Blues had “let our club down” following their 56-point thrashing at the hands of a dominant Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.

The under siege Voss said he would not speculate beyond this week about his own coaching future because “it’s not for me to do”.

The Collingwood capitulation was the Blues’ third poor showing across the past three weeks – an upset loss to the Kangaroos, a meek surrender against Port Adelaide and then a football lesson at the hands of the Magpies.

“We let our club down tonight,” Voss said. “You know, we want our supporters to be proud of us, and we didn’t do that tonight.

“There’s an expectation of a way we want to be able to play, and we didn’t do that tonight. So that’s something that we’re going to have to sit with.

“We are not going to avoid that conversation. If we have to cop our whack, well, we have to cop it because we can’t tolerate that. That was a really poor performance.”

While Voss was fronting the media, Carlton’s hierarchy were shown inside the rooms in deep discussion. President Rob Priestley, outgoing CEO Brian Cook, incoming CEO Graham Wright and football manager Brad Lloyd were all standing together in a tight circle.

What they decided might not become evident until early next week.

Carlton pushed the Magpies in the opening term, trailing by six points at the first break, but then they continually coughed up the ball to be outscored 12 goals to three in the next two terms.

Voss said he was not dwelling on his own future.

“The only thing I ever think about as a leader is my people,” he said. “So, that’s where the focus lies for me.

“Every day I come into work, I get to choose how I want to be, what type of leader I want to be, and that means I get a chance to impact, and we’ve got to shift the needle. That will take a collective effort to be able to do that.

“So there’ll be a lot of leaning on our leaders this week around what we want that to look like and how consistent we want that to be.

“That expectation has been set. It’s been set previously here, and it will stay the same. We’ve got to be much better than what we are, and we’ve got to lead our way out of that. And that starts absolutely with me.”

Voss said there were a number of critical components of Carlton’s game that needed to get better.

“But the only thing I’m really worried about right now is ensuring that we continue to support our people and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” he said.

“So this goes well beyond just, you know, when we talk about our support teams and our players, this goes to families as well. So how are we supporting them?

“So all those are the sorts of things about pressure and, you know, messaging they are the least of my concerns right now.”

Collingwood 17.13 (115) defeated Carlton 8.11 (59)

Craig McRae said it was energising for the Magpies to have assistant coach Scott Selwood back around the club.

Selwood has been away on personal leave following the death of his brother Adam on May 17. Adam’s twin Troy passed away in February.

Tonight’s 56-point win against Carlton at the MCG was his first game back in the coach’s box alongside McRae.

“For our group it’s been a crazy year with this sort of stuff, and to have Scoot back and to get around the boys, we’ve all sort of just grown a little bit taller,” McRae told Fox Footy after the game.

“I know I did when I saw him in the building last week. He’s slowly gravitating back more and more into the building, and it’s great to have him back in that environment.”

Carlton coach Michael Voss dragged his playing group behind closed doors after their thrashing at the hands of Collingwood at the MCG as his coaching career is surely teetering on the brink.

After a spirited opening term, Voss looked on haplessly from the coach’s box as the Blues were outpointed for the next two quarters and were ultimately beaten by 56 points.

Midfielder George Hewett revealed that Voss told the players in the private meeting that they didn’t bring the three things they had needed to beat Collingwood: contest, pressure and tackle efficiency.

“We tried to aim for a high number of tackles, but we only got 46 so it probably shows that our effort wasn’t there against a quality side,” Hewett told 3AW after the game.

There were so many deficiencies for Voss to highlight, chief among them being poor disposal.

Incoming CEO Graham Wright was an interesting spectator in the MCG stands during the game, and he has a power of work to do with the once mighty club when he gets his feet under the desk next month.

But the MCG capitulation will put enormous pressure on the club’s sitting hierarchy, president Rob Priestly and outgoing CEO Brian Cook, in terms of his Voss’ immediate coaching career. Can they wait for Wright?

The killer was the third term when Collingwood booted eight goals to Carlton’s two. They were simply cleaner and more precise with the footy.

Where Carlton would continually butcher the ball going forward, dumping kicks on top of their teammates, the Magpies midfielders were cool and calculated.

“They are what they are,” Fox Footy commentator Garry Lyon said of the Blues. “They are horrible kicking football side. Horrible. And that goes from the top down.

“Adam Cerra was butchering the footy today. And you know we don’t pick on the Cooper Lords of the world, but if you want to be an A-grade footballer, if you want to survive long enough to have a career in footy, you can’t kick in the manner that they kick. And that becomes a list analysis decision that they’re going to have to make.”

Fox Footy’s Jordan Lewis said the damning thing for Carlton was their midfield mix and getting soundly beaten in the post-clearance game.

“They just can’t spread, they can’t link up, they can’t kick,” Lewis said. “There are so many parts of their game at the moment that aren’t where they need to be.”

Hewett said the playing group was still behind their coach.

“We just want to do him proud, but we are just not doing it, which has been tough the last couple of weeks,” Hewett said.

Collingwood’s forwards had a field day.

Jamie Elliott has had his best-ever year in front of goal with his 41 so far this year surpassing his 2023 season. He booted four for the night against Carlton, as did Dan McStay, while Brody Mihocek and Tim Membrey both kicked two.

The Daicos brothers dominated the midfield. Nick Daicos was clearly best on ground with 36 disposals and a goal, while Josh was dominant early and finished with 27 possessions.

Tom Mitchell also had an encouraging return after 14 months out of the senior side due to injury, picking up 26 disposals.

To add salt into the wound, Carlton’s best player across the first three quarters, Zac Williams (three goals), was subbed out of the game in the third term with a knee injury.

FT: Magpies 17.13 (115) def Blues 8.11 (59)

Carlton have kicked the opening two goals of the final term, but to what end?

Ashton Moir nailed the first and he was followed up by Mitch McGovern. They didn’t over celebrate, thankfully, because those two majors have only pulled back Collingwood’s lead to 51 points.

It looks like the Magpies have taken their feet off the pedal and are cruising to the final siren.

Magpies 16.13 (109) lead Blues 8.10 (58), four minutes remaining.

Not surprisingly the Carlton fans have taken to social media to vent their frustration over what has been a train wreck at the MCG.

No one expected the Blues would beat the top-placed Collingwood, but they would not have expected them to fall behind by 10 goals by three-quarter time. It has not been befitting of a crowd of 75,000.

Here’s a quick sample of the Blues fans’ angst: