Voss on Josh Drummond's calf injury
“He got a full week of training in last week which gives his body a better chance of coming up this week. We'll probably test him at the end of this week to see if he is okay.”
“We have already been pretty cautious with Drummo because we left him out last week. If we had put him in last week with Patfull and Merrett who were also returning from injury, it might've stretched us a bit with our run out of defence.”
“Josh is a little bit different now than he has been in the past. He's had a full pre-season, he's strong and has already played 11 games of footy this year, so I don't think the injury will affect his fitness at all.”
“I don't think he missed a single pre-season training session. He is much more resilient now than he has been in the past.”
“It's a bit early to tell who he might come back in for. We just have to make sure we get our team balance right. We need to work out what talls and smalls we need for this week. We need to also consider whether we play Daniel Merrett in the ruck again or whether we settle him back into the full-back role.”
“They are all questions we have to ask ourselves as a match committee this week. But it's nice to have these sorts of problems.”
Voss on Bradd Dalziell's progress
“He's pretty close to being available for senior selection. We would probably like Bradd to play another game in the reserves just so that he can get that continuity back.”
“He's missed a fair amount of football with his knee injury and with that he lost a bit of touch. He needs to just get back to understanding what we are doing and feeling comfortable back out on the field.”
“Football Park (AAMI Stadium) is a bigger ground so there's a fair bit of run required, but I would have thought that in ideal circumstances he would play another week in the reserves.”
Voss on the team's turnovers against Melbourne
“I thought our skills were probably just a by-product of the game.”
“If it happens as a one-off in a game you just think to yourself that it's a little speed bump. But we certainly still have to challenge ourselves to find out ways we can improve for our next game.”
“I'm more into looking at trends – not isolation. In one way, last Saturday night's game was isolated because it broke the trend of what we have been like over the last six or seven weeks.”
“So I'll treat that match in isolation at the moment but if bad turnovers continue to happen, we will definitely need to address it.”
Voss on this week's opponent – Port Adelaide
“Port showed just how dangerous they can be by scoring very quickly in that final quarter against Geelong on Sunday. They are great at stoppages and clearances and have great run as well. For us, it will be another great challenge to go to Football Park and play against a good opposition that is under a bit of pressure at the moment.”
“One thing I know about Port Adelaide is that at their best, they can destroy and dismantle any side in the competition. When they get their game going, they score quickly and are a very skilful side.”
“We just have to prepare ourselves the best we can and work out how we can nullify their strengths.”
“Historically we have played in very tight games against Port Adelaide, we've played in finals against one another and we've had a couple of drawn matches as well.”
“Like Essendon versus Carlton last Friday night, there are just some teams that seem to play well against one another regardless of where they are on the ladder. We probably fit into that category with Port because we have had some great – and physical – clashes with them over the years.”
“I wouldn't expect it to be any different this Saturday afternoon.”
Voss on whether he still has mental scars from the 2004 Grand Final defeat
“Nah, it's from another era now, and I'm more focussed on what's coming up than what's historically happened.”
“As coach, I would see that as bringing my own personal baggage to this team – and that's not my role. I'm here to facilitate the players and motivate them to play this weekend's game. What my history has been as a player against Port Adelaide has no effect on what these players are trying to strive for this week.”
“So the answer is ‘no'.”
Voss on the Lions Reserves travelling to Darwin
“They're going to the Northern Territory which will be a good test for them to see whether they can handle the pressure of playing interstate.”
“The AFL system is about trying to survive the pressure of playing in any environment. I think it's fantastic that our younger guys get to travel together as part of the reserves side.”
“One immediate benefit is that they get to go to the Northern Territory and come together as a team. It will be great to get that group of guys away together.”
Voss on selecting players from the Lions Reserves side
“You have to identify where players are at with the reserves before you introduce them to the senior side. You can't bring them in too soon because then you're not really setting them up to succeed.”
“I think there is some good pressure coming from the reserves at the moment. As a match committee, we have to determine when the right time is to introduce any new players into the team – whether they have already played senior football or whether they haven't.”
“There is still the group dynamic to consider. If you pull one guy out and put another guy in, it changes the whole group dynamic. It's not as simple as just swapping one for one because that change can affect a number of areas – not just one particular position.”
Voss on the tempo of the AFLQ competition
“Our players in the Lions Reserves side are playing full games. Guys in the senior side average about 83% game time whereas our guys in the AFLQ play 100% of game time.”
“Therefore, they get more volume but at a lesser intensity. But you have to expect that because the AFLQ competition is one tier down from the AFL.”
“Players in the AFLQ don't experience the same pressure as the guys in the senior team do each week. It's a factor, but there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.”
Voss on this Sunday's heavyweight clash between Geelong and St Kilda
“I think it is going to be a very even contest, but I guess you tend to lean towards the current heavyweight champion in Geelong.”
“Geelong had a major hiccup in last year's Grand Final, but they have shown over the last few years that they are the best team in the land.”
“You can't help but think over the past couple of weeks that both teams have been setting themselves for each other. I think it's going to be a cracker of a game.”
“We'll go down to watch it and I just hope St Kilda makes it a really physical encounter because we have to play Geelong the following week.”
“It will be good as a football observer to just go down and watch the two teams that are the current benchmarks of the competition play each other. I am really looking forward to observing their game styles and the physicality of the contest.”
“We have to learn how to beat those two teams to have any chance in this competition.”
Voss on the team's training habits
“There's a theory that you start your next game how you finished your last game. But I think your preparation during the week reflects what happens out on the field. I didn't think we trained that well last week. We seemed to rush our decisions and, as a result, we tended to play a little bit like that on Saturday night.”
“Our training on Thursday needs to be very, very good. We need to make sure we are ready.”
Voss on the Lions' overuse of the handball
“We over possessed the ball on Saturday night. I think we had over 400 possessions for the first time this year and I would say that it's probably a little bit too much for us.”
“Geelong gets close to 500 disposals per game and although we have been able to maintain the ball a bit more, I don't think that's really our style.”
“We want to be able to give our forwards a chance and I want us to share it and bring each other into the game – but not over possess it. That creates pressure on another person and we're not at that stage yet. It's a really fine balance.”
“We want to be a bit more efficient with the way we move the ball. When we overuse the ball, I don't think we look as good as we can be.”
Last Modified on 13/07/2009 14:30