‘It helped us’: How Saints’ tactics backfired… and were a blessing in disguise for injury-hit Carlton

Carlton coach Michael Voss intimated that the ultra-defensive tactics that St Kilda employed in the third quarter on Friday night at the MCG were a blessing in disguise for the Blues.

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Carlton played the second half down a rotation with Mitch McGovern (chest) and Lachie Cowan (hamstring tightness) both injured, while Blake Acres (shoulder) and Nick Haynes (neck) also battled through some physical ailments as well.

The contest became a dour arm wrestle in the third term, which had already featured 27 stoppages deep into time on after only 28 occurred in the first half. The AFL average is 16 per quarter.

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Voss said the dramatic change in the complexion of the match wasn’t because of Carlton’s planning.

“We weren’t choosing to fill up the stoppage,” Voss said after his team’s 15-point win.

“We’re happy for the game to go dead for a little while and that’s just the way that it played out.

“So I don’t really get into semantics about who starts what but we were quite happy to live in that arm wrestle for that period of time and I think it helped us run out the game.

“I can’t imagine it was too pretty to watch but at the same time it was the phase of the game that we needed.”

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Voss said it was crucial for the Blues that the speed was taken out of the contest during that time so they were able to manage their battered and bruised players.

“It was just a game of persistence,” Voss said.

“We were quite happy for the stoppages to be full so we could get our time to rest and then we took our opportunities.

“So I’m just pleased that the players stood patient, we continued to execute what we wanted and so we gave very little window for the opposition to walk through, so it was a very good performance.”

Voss was “very proud” of Carlton’s ability to hold on for the win with their personnel issues and also after the Saints got to within three points of them in the final quarter.

“It’s been a long time where we’ve probably had a win like that,” Voss said.

“It didn’t have a lot of brilliance in it. It had some brilliant moments but it largely took a grind and get in the trenches and fight our way out of it and hanging in for as long as we could, and then just wait for our moments.

“And fortunately, throughout the night, we probably were able to capitalise on a couple of those.

“Obviously Cooper (Lord) being able to go back and kick that (late) goal was a very important one, Harry (McKay) being able to finish his work – that was a pretty impressive goal with a couple of minutes left on the clock.

“When it was needed, we had a group stand up.”

McGovern, who was sent to hospital, and Cowan will both have their injuries assessed to determine the severity of them.