“STAND OUR GROUND”: VOSS NOT HAVING NARRATIVE ON BLUES BUT CONFIDENT CULTURE WILL TRIUMPH

Michael Voss won’t buy into the narrative surrounding Carlton, saying the club’s culture is strong and will withstand the test of a poor run of form.

Voss’ side has won one of its last seven games and is in the midst of a form slump that has seen the Blues fall out of the eight and engulfed in negativity externally.

That escalated with a report by Nine’s Caroline Wilson on Monday night that stated Carlton captain Patrick

Cripps hadn’t stayed with his teammates prior to the club’s Round 11 loss.

But it was swiftly rebuked by Cripps, and when asked on Thursday Voss hopes that ‘stand your ground’ mentality is one that seeps through the club. “I appreciate there’s probably a picture that’s trying to be created right now and there’s probably some mistruths in some of the things being reported,” the Blues coach told reporters.

“But what we’ll continue to do is support our people, that’s what we’ll do.

“I’m pleased in a couple of instances people have really stood their ground and so they should and we should stand our ground as a footy club as well. “We feel like we’re building a really strong culture here, we’ve spent a lot of time in our leadership, a lot of time in our coaching and coaching structures… the way we want to play.

“Right now our performance is not where we want it to be but that doesn’t mean we’re not making progress in a lot of other areas.”

As for Cripps’ leadership, with the skipper’s down patch corresponding to that of his team, Voss was just as passionate.

“I think he’s a fantastic leader and while you’re going through a bit of a lean time, you find out a little bit about what you stand for and he well and truly stood his ground and so he should,” he said.

“Again, what I’ll say is keep flipping rocks but the reality is we’re pretty clear on what we need to do next and what it’s going to take to make sure we turn it around really quickly.” Carlton next meets Melbourne on Friday night, a clash which if they lose, will see the Blues fall to a season-low 14th.

Voss’ troops shot themselves in the foot last week against the Swans when butchering the ball going inside 50 and at goal.

But Carlton’s defence has held up in recent weeks and Voss is clear that his side isn’t too far away.

“I don’t think we’re actually too far (away), I don’t think you’re ever too far away,” he added. “But there are some things we obviously need to get to work on. The priority for us is the message hasn’t changed around our defence and giving ourselves opportunities.

“We gave ourselves those opportunities and we weren’t able to finish our work last week, so we walk away pretty clear on what you need to work on…

“The focus doesn’t change for us, we still have to bring intensity on the right phases of the game and we’re still going to make sure we develop ourselves into a really strong defensive team and build our team off the back of it.”