Carlton coach Michael Voss not happy with call to overturn late Blues goal in loss to Richmond
Another injured defender and a loss to Richmond weren’t the only things to upset Carlton coach Michael Voss.
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Carlton coach Michael Voss wasn’t convinced the score reviewers at the MCG got it right when they overturned a Blues goal at a crucial stage in the final quarter of their 15-point loss to Richmond at the MCG on Thursday night.
A knee injury to first-gamer Sam Durdin further depleted Voss’ defensive stocks ahead of Carlton’s next encounter with third-placed Fremantle, with Jack Martin (calf) also finishing the game on the bench.
But it was the late call to overturn a goal awarded to Jack Newnes that set tongues wagging post-match.
Carlton was riding a wave of momentum after star forward Harry McKay kicked three goals in four minutes, and after the Blues trailed by 35 points in the second term, Jack Newnes looked like he trimmed the deficit to just three points when he threaded the needle from a sharp angle in the pocket.
But the former Saint was denied a clever goal after TV replays appeared to show Richmond defender Nathan Broad got a finger on the ball.
Voss wasn’t convinced Broad made contact with the ball, though, and a couple of minutes later, Shane Edwards kicked a goal to put the Tigers back up by 14 points in what the Carlton boss described as “a huge moment”.
When asked if there was sufficient evidence to overturn Newnes’ goal, Voss replied: “It didn’t look it from where I was, but I don’t watch the 10 different angles of it, so I’ve got one (angle) and looked at it, and if it was touched, then we move on.
“I think it’s got to be definitive, doesn’t it? If we’re going to make decisions like that in games, you’d hope it’s definitive.
“We’d want to make sure we’re absolutely 100 per cent sure before overturning something like that, myself, but clearly the call was made and we’ve got to end up living with the result.”
Jack Newnes didn’t do much tonight - but he did cop two of the worst umpiring decisions in living memory @ThePrenderCast
— Shane Earl (@ShaneEarl69) June 16, 2022
Voss was less inclined, however, to talk about Richmond livewire Shai Bolton taunting Carlton backman Sam Docherty by showing him the ball before running into an open goal, a move Tigers coach Damien Hardwick wasn’t happy with.
But Voss said he wouldn’t be “losing any sleep over it”.
“I wouldn’t even dare dream to coach another player from another team – that’s for ‘Dimma’ (Richmond coach Damien Hardwick) to deal with, and I’ll deal with my own players, so I’m pretty firm on that,” Voss said.
“If he feels that’s adequate, well that’s fine.”
Of more concern was the loss of mid-season draftee Durdin, who was brought in to shore up their undermanned backline that was missing the injured Jacob Weitering (shoulder), Zac Williams (calf), Mitch McGovern (hamstring), Oscar McDonald (back), Caleb Marchbank (knee) and Luke Parks (foot).
Ruckman Marc Pittonet (knee) and star recruit Adam Cerra (hamstring) were also absent. Both Martin and Durdin are now in doubt for the Blues’ crunch clash with fellow top-four aspirants Fremantle next week.
But given the significant personnel challenges Carlton’s backline faced, Voss was full of praise for his defenders, who managed to keep the Blues in the game late despite their team conceding a whopping 25 more inside 50s to the Tigers (51-76).
“To be able to absorb that, coming into the game I certainly wasn’t anticipating that we’d be losing that much territory,” Voss said.
And Voss isn’t fazed by his dwindling options down back heading into the Dockers clash.
“Next man up, so we’re hoping there’s another one there, but that’s the expectation for us is that they come in and play a role for us and they get it done,” Voss said.
“Players are not whingeing about it ... that’s what we’re going to ask the players to do is step up.”
Originally published as Carlton coach Michael Voss not happy with call to overturn late Blues goal in loss to Richmond
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