Carlton coach Michael Voss was left with mixed emotions from last night's thriller at Engie Stadium which saw the Blues fall short of a miracle come-from-behind victory, 116-104 to GWS.
Exploding with a 52-point opening term, Carlton looked prime to roll the Giants, who had be woefully out-of-form for months leading into the matchup.
But with their season on life-support, GWS stunningly clicked into gear over the next two quarters, flicking a switch to play some of their best footy under Adam Kingsley for two straight quarters, kicking 14 goals to three to claim a near 40-point lead.
By three-quarter time, the narrative had flipped completely to shine the torch on Carlton failing to quell opposition dominance, potentially signalling doubts over their premiership credentials.
That is until the Blues clawed their way back to within two kicks late in the final term, with a genuine sniff of stealing a miraculous victory, only to fall just short by the final siren.
Game over at ENGIE Stadium.
A late fightback not to be as we fall by 12 points. Attention moves to Marvel Stadium next week.#AFLGiantsBlues pic.twitter.com/UaFLYCuipE
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) July 6, 2024
Voss summarised how he saw what will go down as one of the games of the year from the sidelines.
"For how well we played in the first you could equally say the opposite for the next two quarters. We were completely dominated," the Carlton coach admitted.
"It was more 'how do we turn off the scoreboard' because we just couldn't get our hands on it."
"I'm really pleased... despite the day not being ours, we were able to play it out right to the end."
While the orange tsunami did make a return, the damage was done from the Giants' stoppage work, the Blues conceding their single worst return from stoppage this season.
"It's not often we concede 70 points from stoppage. That is an enormous number," Voss added.
"We gave ourselves a bit of a look at the end. It would've been stolen though."
Superstar back Jacob Weitering was limited in his impact after sustaining a cork to the quad during the game, Coleman Medal contender Jesse Hogan seizing this opportunity to boot five goals in a dominant front half display of strength and accuracy.
"Yeah that's all it is (a corky), but he was obviously quite limited in his movement," Voss analysed.
"Probably didn't support (our backs) maybe enough."
"We've been really good at being able to support one another and I felt like we probably let our defenders down a little bit, couldn't get any delay."
The fourth quarter comeback halts concern for the Blues losing their potential premiership credentials, showing they do have what it takes to respond to a powerful opponent.
But in a league where a top four hopeful could be just three poor performances away from sitting bottom six on the ladder this late in the season, every loss raises some concern.
"This game is extremely hard, the competition is extremely even," Voss said.
"Feel like we've got, I guess, some confidence from the public that we can perform... but we let ourselves down today."
