CARLTON coach Michael Voss is hopeful his team's powerful win against West Coast on Saturday is the breakthrough performance needed to give the Blues momentum as they prepare to lose Harry McKay for at least one match.
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McKay suffered concussion in a brutal head clash with Eagles midfielder Tom Gross, ruling him out for the Good Friday clash against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, with the team also set to lose forward Brodie Kemp to a suspected Achilles tendon injury.
The Blues weathered their losses, which also included the late omission of Blake Acres due to illness, with Voss proud of his team's ability to persist and finally be rewarded after a difficult start to the season.
"We've got the one win away, and that's really what we've done here. It's the one we needed and hopefully it's the leverage we can build some form off the back of," the coach said on Saturday.
"It's nice to get the win and then very quickly you can't help but look to next week.
"I should be sitting here with a huge smile on my face, but I'm not. So that might say something about it. We needed it, we got it, and I'm extremely proud of our club and people, because they haven't wavered.
"The support has been significant. We've backed in our program, backed in our environment, our training fundamentals have been really strong, so there's no accusations there.
"What we've struggled to do is transfer it and for whatever reason that hasn't been at 100 per cent effectiveness. But it was certainly closer to what we expect today."
Voss said McKay was OK after his short-lived return on Saturday, having taken time away from playing to focus on his mental health. Kemp will be sent for scans to confirm his suspected Achilles tendon injury.
The Blues will have options, however, when they take on the Kangaroos, with Acres to be available alongside ruck Marc Pittonet and half forward Elijah Hollands.
Voss paid tribute to his on-field leaders on Saturday, with midfielder Sam Walsh particularly influential with three goals and 37 disposals after spending time on the wing.
The coach was also pleased with the impact of small forwards Corey Durdin (four goals) and Jesse Motlop, who made an impact in the midfield.
After losing by 71 points and copping a hammering in contested ball (136-77) and clearances (40-18), West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said the Eagles were "under no illusions" about how the team was playing.
After dropping senior midfielder Tim Kelly, he said the club would continue to focus on long-term solutions rather than looking for quick fixes.
"We could easily close the game down and play slow and wide and protect ourselves by putting numbers behind the ball," McQualter said.
"But I'm not sure that's the right way to teach people how to play and I'm not sure if it's a sustainable model to become a winning team.
"We'll continue to work our way through small solutions that'll help us quickly, but we're not going to become a short-term solutions club."
McQualter said the Eagles needed to improve their ability to win the contested ball and challenge the players to "find out who really wants to live in that space".
The coach said there were good signs from young midfielder Tom Gross, who was among the Eagles' better players with 18 disposals, and Jack Hutchinson, who led the way with four clearances.
"We'll reward the people who are in form, and we'll challenge and help the people who are out of form," McQualter said.
"That's going to be our job at the moment and there are more out of form than in form at our club.
"You can't go and just buy form, you've got to work really hard in our game to improve."
