At the Gabba on a Saturday in early September, Carlton's season came to a quiet and telling end — not simply because they lost, but because of what the loss revealed about the impossible arithmetic of desperation. Coach Michael Voss had gathered six injured players and asked them to carry a team through an elimination final, a gamble that speaks to the ancient tension between bold action and patient wisdom. The Blues fell by 28 points, their first half a prolonged silence on the scoreboard, and in the aftermath Voss offered not excuses but the honest accounting of a man who understood the cons
Voss defends six-player Carlton overhaul despite Brisbane elimination loss
We were left with no choice with our score
Mark
So Voss brought back six injured players for a do-or-die game. That sounds like a high-risk move. Did he think they were ready?
Mimi
He says they weren't all the same case. Three had only missed a week or two and had a full season of fitness. The other three—Docherty, Cerra, De Koning—were different. But yes, it was a gamble.
Luke
The question is whether it was a calculated gamble or a forced one. Did Carlton have better options, or were they just thin on the list?
Mimi
That's not really addressed in what Voss said. He defended the call, but he didn't explain why they couldn't have waited or brought back fewer players.
Mark
What happened in the game itself?
Mimi
Carlton didn't score for 57 minutes. Brisbane built a 60-point lead by halftime. The game was essentially over.
Luke
So the returnees didn't perform well, or the team around them didn't?
Mimi
Voss didn't blame the injured players specifically. He said they got through the game okay. But he did admit De Koning had to be activated early, which wasn't the plan.
Mark
Why activate him early if he wasn't ready?
Mimi
Because Carlton was scoreless and needed something—anything—to generate some presence around the ground. It was a move born of desperation.
Luke
So the real story might be that Carlton's list was too thin to compete, not that the injured players weren't ready.
Mimi
That's a fair read. Voss was managing an unusual set of circumstances, as he put it. But we don't know if different selections would have changed the outcome.
Mark
Did Voss regret the decision?
Mimi
He didn't say he regretted it. He said he would have preferred to manage things differently, but given the circumstances, he was pleased they activated De Koning.
The Pulse
- Carlton arrived at the Gabba having recalled six players from injury — including Sam Docherty, returning from a third ACL rupture — in a do-or-die bid to stay alive in the finals.
- The first half unravelled with brutal clarity: the Blues went 57 minutes without a score while Brisbane built a 60-point lead, threatening to make finals history for all the wrong reasons.
- Voss was forced to activate ruckman Tom De Koning far earlier than planned, a move born not of strategy but of a scoreboard that had gone completely blank.
- Carlton steadied after halftime, outscoring Brisbane in the second half, but the deficit was insurmountable and the final 28-point margin felt almost merciful.
- The coach defended his selection without apology, drawing careful distinctions between players who had missed a week or two and those, like Docherty and Cerra, returning from far longer absences.
- The season is over, and the question that lingers — whether fewer returnees or another week's preparation might have changed the outcome — remains unanswered and perhaps unanswerable.
At the Gabba on a Saturday in early September, Carlton's season came to a quiet and telling end — not simply because they lost, but because of what the loss revealed about the impossible arithmetic of desperation. Coach Michael Voss had gathered six injured players and asked them to carry a team through an elimination final, a gamble that speaks to the ancient tension between bold action and patient wisdom. The Blues fell by 28 points, their first half a prolonged silence on the scoreboard, and in the aftermath Voss offered not excuses but the honest accounting of a man who understood the constraints he was working within.
Carlton's finals campaign ended at the Gabba on Saturday, and the manner of its ending invited hard questions about the decisions that shaped it. Coach Michael Voss had brought back six players from injury — Mitch McGovern, Sam Docherty, Harry McKay, Adam Cerra, Tom De Koning, and Zac Williams — for an elimination final the Blues simply had to win. They did not win. They lost by 28 points, and the first half was so barren it threatened to enter the record books: Carlton went 57 minutes without scoring, while Brisbane constructed a 60-point buffer that made the contest effectively over before the main break.
Voss was careful in his defence of the selection. He noted that three of the returnees — McGovern, McKay, and Williams — had missed only a week or two and carried a full season's fitness into the game. The other three were different stories. Docherty was playing his first match back from a third ACL rupture, suffered in Round One against the same Brisbane side on the same ground. Cerra and De Koning were also returning from extended absences.
The most telling detail of the afternoon was the early activation of De Koning. Voss had not planned to bring the ruckman into the game so soon, but with the scoreboard blank deep into the second quarter, he felt he had no choice. It was a decision made under duress, not design — and the coach acknowledged he would have preferred to manage De Koning's minutes more gently, letting all six returnees ease into the game together. The scoreline made that impossible.
Voss stopped short of claiming the selection was obviously correct, but he did not retreat from it either. He framed his choices as responses to real constraints — a finals match, six players in varying states of readiness, and a scoreboard that forced his hand. What he left unspoken was whether a more conservative approach might have served Carlton better. The season is finished, and that question will linger through the summer.
Carlton's season ended at the Gabba on Saturday, and in the aftermath, coach Michael Voss found himself defending a decision that, on the surface, looked like it had backfired spectacularly. Six players—Mitch McGovern, Sam Docherty, Harry McKay, Adam Cerra, Tom De Koning, and Zac Williams—had been brought back from injury for an elimination final that Carlton needed to win to stay alive in the finals race. Instead, they lost by 28 points, and the manner of the defeat raised questions about whether the timing of their return had been wise.
The first half told the story of a team that was simply not ready. Carlton managed no score for 57 minutes, a stretch so barren it threatened to set a record for the lowest first-half total in a finals match. By the time they finally got points on the board, Brisbane had already built a 60-point buffer. The Lions controlled the game with ease, and while Carlton salvaged some respectability after halftime, scoring 11 points more than Brisbane's halftime tally, the damage was done. The final margin of 28 points felt almost generous.
Voss, however, was not apologetic about the selection call. He acknowledged that the six returnees were not all in the same situation. Three of them—McGovern, McKay, and Williams—had missed only one or two weeks and carried a full season's worth of game fitness behind them. The other three were different cases entirely. Docherty was returning from his third ACL rupture, suffered in Round One against the same opponent on the same ground. Cerra and De Koning were also coming back from significant time on the sidelines.
The coach's explanation centered on the unusual circumstances that unfolded during the match itself. De Koning's activation early in the game was not part of the original plan. With Carlton scoreless deep into the second quarter, Voss felt he had no choice but to bring the ruckman into the game to provide some presence around the ground. It was a move born of desperation, not strategy. "We didn't want to activate him when we did, but we were left with no choice with our score," Voss said. The alternative would have been to leave him on the bench while the scoreboard remained blank, which felt untenable.
Voss suggested that De Koning had been close to full fitness—perhaps one or two runs short of being able to play a full 100 minutes. The coach would have preferred to manage his minutes more carefully, ideally starting all six returnees together and letting them build into the game at a natural pace. But the scoreline forced his hand. "The option was to not play him or play him in that situation, so we chose to activate him and pleased we did," Voss reflected. "We needed that little bit of presence down the line."
What remained unsaid was whether a different selection strategy—perhaps waiting another week, or bringing back fewer players—might have produced a different result. Voss's defense was measured and specific, acknowledging the constraints he faced rather than claiming the decision was obviously correct. The Blues' season was over, and the coach was left to explain why he had asked six injured players to carry Carlton through a finals match they could not win.
Notable Quotes
We didn't want to activate him when we did, but we were left with no choice with our score— Michael Voss, Carlton coach, on bringing Tom De Koning into the game early
I think if we'd had our way, we would've liked to start them all at the same time, but that's why we had to manage a very unusual set of circumstances— Michael Voss, on the decision to bring back six injured players
Want the full story?
Read the original at PerthNow ↗
Sports