DESPITE kicking just one goal up till the ninth minute of the third term, Carlton coach Michael Voss felt there were "more moments that looked like us" in the loss to the Western Bulldogs.
The Blues did come back, kicking six straight goals across the second half and taking the lead twice in the final term against the Bulldogs, but were ultimately defeated by 20 points.
"When you look at our first half, we were largely able to get a lot of moments in our favour. We had great field position, our inefficiency in our ability to finish our work put us on the back foot a bit," Voss said.
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"So rather than be somewhat discouraged by that, the good thing is the boys aimed up a bit, kept believing in the process that we had to execute in the second half, and the scoreboard began to tick over. So, we began to see that energy and a little bit of reward and nourishment from the scoreboard ticking over.
"For large parts of that second half, we put ourselves in such a great position and we weren't able to close out the game exactly how we'd want to. You hit the front with what, six, seven minutes to go, and we weren't able to finish off that last six or seven minutes, so we'll go back and review that strongly.
"But I felt like we walked out of the game with more moments that looked like us. So, we've been working pretty hard over the course of the last month to get that, but it still shows that we've got a bit of work to do."
Voss said connection between the midfielders and forwards, decision-making and the sheer number of Bulldogs players inside 50 made life difficult in the first half, the Blues having 29 inside 50s for 1.4.
"They had a lot of density back, across the entire game. It was clear they came with (the aim of) trying to fill that up. Our re-entry ball against some numbers was a little bit harder to work through, but that's not unusual," he said.
"It's always hard to score against when you're looking at a bunch of opposition, you have to go back through.
"But then, when you get your moments, you have to finish those moments. Certainly, first half to second half they were very different, very contrasting, and we got the lift we wanted, but it wasn't for long enough, in the end."
Despite having finished last week in the top eight, the Blues were under the pump leading into the game, with a few prominent supporters publicly voicing their concerns about the direction of the club.
"It's hard not to (pay attention) when it's surrounding you, but for us, the answer isn't looking external, it's looking internal. What we get to be able to control is what we do, how we train, how we turn up and how we get better, and how we execute in those moments," Voss said.
"For anything to change, that's what we've got to get after. For us, it's eyes down, it's eyes in, and we've got to go again. So, we've got an extended break (before Collingwood next Sunday) this week to go to work on our game, and that's what we'll do."
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge lauded the efforts of his younger players, with Bailey Smith stepping in beautifully for the injured Adam Treloar as an inside midfielder, and livewire Arty Jones having a hand in all four of the Dogs' fourth-quarter goals.
"We've been challenged a few times over the course of the year, and early in the year we weren't responding too well, so it's another one where we've been able to come again," Beveridge said.
"Really pleasingly, some of the guys who haven't played a lot of footy really stood up and helped with momentum late, doing different things and tweaking things here and there, boys contributing in different ways in that last quarter was important for us.
"In the scheme of things, it's another opportunity to build belief and keep momentum going."
The Bulldogs had pushed out to a 31-point lead at one point in the third term, but were only eight points to the good at the final break after a spirited Carlton comeback in front of a raucous home crowd.
"We all thought we just lost a little bit of composure in that third quarter, like even when we got the ball in our hands, or there was a ground ball that wasn't necessarily contested, we were just a little bit caught up in what was happening in the environment, and the atmosphere and the game," Beveridge said.
"The main message was to keep our composure. Last week, we were able to settle and come again, but GWS didn't come again last week, so for us to respond after Carlton hit the lead, it's a different circumstance.
"Credit to our players, they definitely did stay composed and worked extremely well together."
