CARLTON'S thrilling victory against Melbourne was its eighth win in a row and has all but secured it a finals spot for the first time since 2013, but Michael Voss isn't about to take a rest.
With games against Gold Coast (away) and Greater Western Sydney (at Marvel Stadium) to come it's still possible the Blues could miss September if they drop their guard, and no one in navy blue needs to be reminded of the heartbreak of 2022 as a year of so much promise disappeared in the dying moments of the home and away season.
BLUES V DEMONS Full match coverage and stats
"The job's not done, our job is not done," Voss said after the match.
"It's a pretty tough message to give to a team straight after we've just won like that.
"We'll acknowledge this win, it's a very good win. We'll review it the same way, but when we get to Tuesday we've got to make sure we move on pretty quick to the next opponent."
It looked for a moment late in the game that Carlton's streak was going to end at seven as Christian Petracca's long bomb went to a score review, the umpire's call of a touch from Caleb Marchbank left standing without conclusive evidence otherwise.
"I was sitting there going 'please don't overrule this, you can't lose this way'," Voss admitted.
"Thankfully the call went our way."
Asked whether he thought Marchbank had made contact with the ball, the coach was coy.
"I've spoken to him and he says he did, so at this point in time it doesn't really matter to me. We'll just call it that it was touched and we'll take the four points and walk away," he said.
The Blues had just one injury concern with Sam Docherty subbed out of the contest late, but Voss wasn't too concerned about his veteran defender's condition.
"He was getting tight in the calf across the night, so we let it play out in the first five minutes of the last quarter. We're hoping it's pretty minor," he said.
Simon Goodwin relished the finals intensity of the match, despite his team not coming away with the points in a result that could decide whether Melbourne gets a top-two spot and a home game in the first week of finals.
"It was a cracking game of footy but it's just never good when you're on the other side of it," Goodwin said.
"When two teams value similar things in contest and defence, they're arm wrestles, they're tight, and it does come down to moments.
"The team that generally wins more of them comes away with the result."
The return of gun midfielder Clayton Oliver was one big positive Goodwin took from the game, admitting it took a while for the four-time best and fairest winner to shake off the cobwebs of a long layoff.
"Early it looked like he was a little bit rusty, like he'd had 10 weeks out, but by the end of the game you could see it was the Clayton of old," he said.
"He's ended up with a large number of tackles (13), nine clearances, high possessions, and I thought his second half was enormous.
"He's only going to get better from here."
