‘Can certainly go’: Carlton coach Michael Voss delivers vicious spray during Bombers clash

Despite beating the Bombers in the third term at the MCG, a frustrated Voss vented his frustration during intermission to a team huddled together, and you don’t need to be a lip reader to guess what was being said.

The Blues allowed Essendon multiple wholes within 50 in the third stanza, and Voss presumably didn’t mince words when judging their defensive performance.

Watch every blockbuster AFL game Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo this weekend. New to Kayo? Try now 14 days free >

“I thought our first two and a half minutes were really good, but we just strayed from doing some little things right, which we had done before,” he later said.

“I think we are still in that phase where we learn to win and win the right way. We recognize that there is still some growth in us.

“When we talk about expectations, people will talk about where we’re going to end up, but our expectation is that we’re at what we’re trying to do and play a certain way.

“There is certain behavior that we need and we have to stick to that. It was more reinforcement.”

While it didn’t seem like his character for Voss, Carlton forward Charlie Curnow confirmed to Fox Footy that his coach “can definitely go” when the need arises.

“I think he has a really nice balance in it,” he said after the 26-point win.

“I think our football at the time was a couple of things where we had to control the game a little bit better and give the game a bit of a match again. You always need that big spray here and there.”

Blues teammate Patrick Cripps continued: “He is a passionate man and he holds us to a high standard and the standard we set ourselves at the start of the year. We probably moved away from playing our footy in the third quarter and it was just resetting us.

“To the credit of the boys, I thought we had responded. The opposition is going to do their best and it’s how you get up. I think this year we got up very often when we were challenged and that was the most enjoyable thing.”

Carlton spoiled Essendon’s 150th celebration with a comfortable win in the MCG, but will be sweating on star midfielder Adam Cerra’s tight hamstring.

The Blues lost to esteemed recruit Cerra before half-time and then endured a brief Bomber storm to sail for the most part to a 12.8 (80) to 7.12 (54) win that propelled them into the top four for now.

Harry McKay and, to a lesser extent, Curnow terrorized an out-performed Essendon defence, totaling five goals and 14 marks, seven of them within 50.

She further rubbed salt into the Bombers’ wounds early in the third term, when McKay’s deft tap on Curnow set up a stylish dribbling goal for Carlton’s first of the second half.

The Blues never had any serious problems from then on, but perhaps missed a chance at a handy percentage win.

Sam Docherty (33 disposals) continued his fairytale comeback from a second bout of cancer with a brilliant performance as George Hewett, Sam Walsh and Cripps all approached 30 touches.

Essendon rolled out a procession of club greats before the game – from James Hird to Kevin Sheedy, Dustin Fletcher and Gavin Wanganeen — and received a rousing pre-game speech from Captain Dyson Heppell.

But the Bombers’ infamous drought without a final win is sure to last for another year as they slumped to a 10th loss out of 12 games.

– with Marc McGowan, NCA NewsWire