AFL Round 8 Adelaide v Carlton: Michael Voss on where it all went wrong for the Blues

Carlton coach Michael Voss has offered a blunt assessment of his side after the Blues’ winning run came to a shuddering halt at Adelaide Oval.

Carlton coach Michael Voss offered a blunt assessment after Adelaide handed his side a 60-point thumping, conceding that the Blues had let themselves down with the poor display.

Carlton’s three-game winning run came to a shuddering halt at Adelaide Oval, where the Crows’ midfielders largely dictated terms to exert consistent pressure on the Blues’ back six.

Led by star skipper Jordan Dawson, Adelaide won centre clearances 16-6 and went inside attacking 50 on 58 occasions to Carlton’s 36.

The Blues were no match for Jordan Dawson and the Crows on Saturday. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos

“We let ourselves down,” Voss said.

“We were beaten too much around the ball, that’s really what happened across the night.

“They went from inside to out really quickly on us and we weren’t able to contain it.

“We got some pretty good feedback around the things that we need to be able to get right in our game.

“What had been particular strengths in our game over the course of the season, we just couldn’t get right.

“It reinforces the strengths in the game that we need and it highlights why they’re important to us.

“The reality was that even in the first 10 minutes of the game our method around the ball wasn’t good enough.

“We lost critical territory in the game, roles that we have valued didn’t get played well enough, so immediately when you’re looking at the game you’re thinking ‘Geez, that’s not us’.”

Despite his disappointment with the performance, Voss doesn’t feel the display was dire enough to detract from the belief his players have built in his game plan.

“I think there’s enough evidence there and there’s a body of work to see that our contest has been very strong for pretty much the entire season, the way we’ve defended has been pretty strong for the season,” he said.

“Having belief is about having a body of work … we’ve got a body of work.

“We didn’t get it done tonight, but I don’t think we can stretch it that far about ‘How do you keep believing?’

“Belief is built off evidence over time.

“There’s been some things we’ve been working on in our game that we’ve been able to right over the past few weeks, but none of the phases really came together today.

“It was hard work the whole day, so we’ll have to look at it pretty strongly.

“I’m enormously disappointed with the performance, but we’ll look at it clearly like we do every week.”

Originally published as AFL Round 8 Adelaide v Carlton: Michael Voss on where it all went wrong for the Blues