While Voss admitted to walking away with a bitter taste after losing by 14 points to St Kilda, he said the effort was more pleasing than it had been in recent weeks.
The Lions led by 16 points at half time, but the Saints accelerated after the break to kick eight goals to four.
“(It was a) much better standard for us,” Voss said.
“You take away some of that standard you’ve been looking for for quite a while and that’s closer to what we’re after. Certainly from the first half what we were trying to execute was done very very well.
“After half time they probably put the foot down a little bit, put their guns in the middle of the ground got them going a bit.”
St Kilda kicked four goals to one in the third quarter to go into the last term with a lead, but even then, Voss drew positives.
“The pleasing thing I got out of the third quarter was the dam wall didn’t break as it has in the past. We’ve had multiple goals kicked against us in those periods, so we hung in there,” he said.
“We certainly pushed them all the way. I’ve known the capability has been there, but over a period of time for whatever reason it hasn’t worked for us.
“It hasn’t been about massive things, it’s been about little things and that’s what we’ve gone back to. I spoke about the fundamentals of the game, sometimes it’s really boring and basic, but it works.
“We’ve been concentrating on that in our training. I think we saw a lot of that today and that was pleasing, but at the same time we walk away with a bitter taste because it was there but we let it slip.”
Voss said a lack of finesse and ability to think through situations ultimately cost the Lions.
He paid credit to second year players Daniel Rich for his rebound from half-back and Tom Rockliff for his efforts in a head-to-head duel with Saints’ star Lenny Hayes.
“I reckon it’s good to be able to have that team role for him. He’s competing really well ... and I thought he was ready for the challenge. I thought he did pretty well, especially for three quarters.”
