“We should be very confident coming into the back half of games by now. Time and time again we’ve been able to work our way back into games and the longer a game goes on, our fitness appears to be a factor.”
“But we’re losing critical patches. There are these 15-20 minute patches where we are getting multiple goals scored against us in quick fashion. That’s an important part of our game that we need to address urgently.”
“That small window is the one that’s hurting us the most. Some of our efforts have been really good, but we’re still so far away from being able to string those together over the course of the full 120 minutes.”>
“Maybe there’s a thought that we think we’re better than what we actually are, and we come into games with that type of mentality, as opposed to treating a game on its merits.”
“You have to be able to build your wins. You can never win a game in the first five minutes, but you can certainly lose a game in the first five minutes.”
“We played an opposition that was intent on making a strong statement themselves as a footy club and we really spoke about that before the game. Clearly their intent was better than ours in that first period.”
“If there is one thing I shouldn’t have to reinforce with this group is that they’re fit enough to come home against even the best teams. That has been reinforced again, and again, and again.”
“What we have to do is challenge ourselves a little bit more and risk the chance of actually leading earlier in games.”
Voss on facing the Western Bulldogs
“I rate the Western Bulldogs really highly. I think they are a superb team that has had their ups and downs too.”
“We know that their capability is quite high and they’ve had a good record against us. We were able to get them here at the Gabba earlier this year, but we have to make sure that we bring our competitive instincts this week.”
Voss on coaching from the interchange bench
“Sometimes you just feel like you need to be down there so you can send quicker messages and be in the middle of it all. Sometimes it’s relevant and other times it’s not. I just rely on the feeling of the game as to what I do.”
“I don’t think it makes a difference to whether we’re winning or losing though. I’d like to think it does just for my own ego (laughs), but that’s not the reason.”
“Because you’re in the thick of the action on the bench, it’s important to remain composed.”
“I enjoy it down there and I have some good eyes upstairs in the coaches box. I rely on their eyes and communication.”
“Being able to give feedback immediately as the players walk off is a benefit though.”
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