Michael Voss reflected on Carlton’s Sunday night triumph over Essendon that saw brothers Harry and Ben McKay collide in a physical contest, leaving the Blues’ key forward worse for wear.
Voss’ Blues claimed a 26-point victory at the MCG despite recording four fewer scoring shots than Brad Scott’s wasteful brigade.
It represents Carlton’s ninth win of the season from 13 games as it sits second on the ladder on 36 points, having leapfrogged the third-placed Dons after Sunday’s result.
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McKay bros clash – Mrs McKay conflicted! | 00:47
Despite out-possessing (+35) the Blues, winning the inside-50 count (+19), and registering 58 more uncontested possessions, the Bombers’ inefficiency in their forward sector proved detrimental to their winning chances.
Carlton was 16 per cent more efficient inside its forward 50 than Essendon, who put up 9.16 for the evening.
“It was territory versus efficiency, wasn’t it?” said Voss post-game, essentially summing up the contest.
“When you looked at the game itself, certainly through the third quarter they had complete dominance against us — we just couldn’t get the ball out of our back half. But they also couldn’t score — or it was hard to score.
“Credit to them, they were able to pin us in a lot. We had 38 back-of-centres — that’s just an extraordinary number.
“I think, going into the last quarter we had 24 inside-50s. I’m not sure what they had, but that seemed low to me.”
“It’s hard to say we’re happy” | 07:50
The Bombers already had 46 inside-50s on the board heading into the final change, but Voss praised his side’s ability to be able to absorb Essendon’s attacking pressure before quelling it in the final term.
“But then to correct it (was pleasing),” he said. “It’s one thing to be under pressure, (but) the chance to be able to get to three-quarter-time and reset and hold as best as we possibly could, and then go into the break and be able to reset.
“For the boys to be able to come back, come out (after) three-quarter-time and do what they did shows the belief that’s grown within this team.
“The last three weeks we’ve played some really quality opposition and been able to run out the game really strong — so, to beat us, you’ve got to go four quarters, and that’s something that we’ve had to develop as a football team over the last sort of while.
“It hasn’t just arrived, it’s been something that we’ve been working on for a quite a while.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Harry McKay and Matthew Kennedy clashed with Ben McKay in a marking contest that saw Harry helped from the field with a suspected shoulder concern.
“Yeah, (it’s a) shoulder,” Voss said. “We’ll assess that.
“He obviously got hit in the shoulder, (the doctors) assess that — in the last quarter — he was able to strap it and come back on, but for me to be able to form a prognosis out of it, I don’t know.
“We’ll have to wait until Monday to find that out.”
The Blues’ mentor sympathised with the McKay brothers’ mother, Tracey, who was watching on in the crowd.
“It was a pretty tough one, yeah — I’m sure Tracey’s sitting there going ‘thank god that’s over’,” Voss chuckled.
“You always just dreaded mum’s phone call on a Monday to make sure nothing happened that was sinister.
“They (Harry and Ben) had a great contest. They had a really, really good contest. Obviously we’re pleased with what Harry did, and I’m sure Essendon’s happy with what Ben was able to get, but I’m sure they’ll face up against each other sometime soon.”
Having played top-10 sides in each of their past eight matches, the Blues’ next challenge comes in the form of fifth-placed Geelong to kick off Round 14.
“We’ve got a really clear visibility about where we are and what we’ve got to get to work on, and clearly there (are) still some gaps that we need to address,” Voss said on Sunday.
“But you’d say, in terms of things we’ve had to go to work on from early in the year until now, we’re certainly producing a lot more consistent performance.
“We are where we deserve (to be); the ladder doesn’t lie. We’ve had to do it with some challenges, so it hasn’t been smooth sailing.
“We’ve been facing these top teams week after week after week, and we’ve had some challenges, but with that’s come opportunity as well.
“We’ve taken that as an opportunity to be able try a few things and see where we then grow next. As it’s turned out, there’s been a couple of roles that have emerged, and it’s just helped us out a little bit.”
Source Agencies
