WHAT a turnaround, what a win, what a game.

Pride was the overriding emotion for AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss when speaking to media after Carlton's incredible one-point win over Brisbane.

Trailing by 46 points midway through the second quarter, the Blues never lost belief, with an inspired surge in the third term setting up a famous Navy Blue win on the road.

This is what Voss had to say.

On where the game turned:

“I felt like somewhere through the second quarter, we started to get some of our game together. It wasn’t all there, we were making so many mistakes and almost giving the ball back to them. When you get stuck in your back half, it’s a hard night to be able to defend — especially with Brisbane’s firepower. For it to live in their half, they will score. 

“We were able to work or way through that and get the ball more in our half, it started to live there for a little bit longer and we were able to turn the result around. We had seven or eight minutes in the second quarter which we could hang our hat on coming into the break, we doubled down on that message and thought that was the formula we needed to bring out in the second half. 

“For us to drag the scoreboard in, it goes to show what momentum can do in footy. When you’ve got it, it’s very hard to stop it.”

On McKay’s match-winning goal:

“He took his moment, he wanted it. When you find yourself in those situations, you want guys who want the ball in their hands. He well and truly presented that way the whole night and found out that at the end, he was involved in the contest and finished the play. 

“I get a bit sick and tired of hearing the nitpicking, to be honest with you. I’m a bit over it. We can be better than that. 

“Harry works on his game enormously hard and he has done over the course of the pre-season, he’s had a fantastic pre-season. He’s been in some unbelievable form, and I think we should be talking about that.”

On his pride for McKay:

“Very. It’s not just him, it’s all the players to be able to hold their nerve. There’s potentially a bigger issue that players aren’t playing that well, their roles are getting harder to perform, but they stick to what they want to offer the team. 

“They stay connected as a football team during really tough moments. We never lost the group, they stay quite positive throughout. We were able to get that little bit of momentum and that little bit of a look, we were lucky enough to be there at the finish. Amazing win, an amazing win. 

“Talking about the conditions, there’s different conditions, with the ground they haven’t lost here [since 2022] and to have the scoreboard against you and the quality opposition you’re working with. We had to work through a bit, and to be able to finish in front was incredibly impressive.”

On where the win ranks:

“Finals always rate quite high, but in terms of being able to deliver in a home-and-away game, I don’t think there’s been any better. That’s incredibly difficult. An away venue, the opposition, the time of the year, all those factors get piled into it. We’ll go the course, we’ll move on from this game in 48 hours — as professionals, we have to do that. But we’ll remember this day. We’ll remember this day as a team.”

On Sam Docherty’s injury, and role players stepping up:

“It was a jarred knee. We’ll explore that during the week. I thought Jack Carroll coming in was impressive. Again, he’s had a really good pre-season. He’s been knocking on the door — next man in. 

“It’s another example of a squad mentality, I feel like we’ve had this for guys to come in and play roles and get their jobs done. Young was good down back, Kemp did a great job, they held their nerve. It was coming down a lot in that first half, I thought our backs were under fire but they were able to hold.”

On what the win could mean:

“It gives a lot of belief. It’s hard to tell at the moment, they’re things where you look back in retrospect and say that was a really significant moment. What we will do is enjoy it for what it is, and when we turn up for work in two days, we’ll look at it with a real set of eyes about what worked and what didn’t. “There’s things which we clearly need to go to work on, we didn’t start very well but we were able to work our way back in. We’ll look at the game and move on. We haven’t got a lot of time, so that’s probably a good thing. 

“If you need to be woken up, Round 1 versus Richmond is a reasonable game to be walking into. We’ll shift our eyes forward, but it’s important in moments like these to enjoy these wins for what it is.”

On Charlie Curnow’s impact:

“Particularly impressive. He certainly did turn it on. That’s his strength: if he doesn’t get you in the air, he’ll get you on the ground. If you feel like you’ve got him for three quarters, he only needs 10 minutes, and that’s the special nature and excitement factor he brings. 

“I’ve been really impressed with his off-season. He wanted to put his hand up to be in a leadership position and take some more ownership over this team and the direction it’s going in. He was as positive as anyone out there and was able to stay present to the group and connected to the group, and he got those rewards.”