AFL 2024: Carlton coach Michael Voss ‘levelled out’ by Sam Docherty injury

Carlton coach Michael Voss says the news of a third ACL injury for former co-captain Sam Docherty “levelled me out pretty quick” in the wake of a stirring opening round win, knowing a sharp refocus will be needed for Thursday’s MCG showdown with Richmond.

Coleman Medal winning Blues forward Charlie Curnow also confirmed the impact the injury of Docherty, who has overcome two bouts of cancer, had on his the group, asking “how much can one bloke endure?”

Carlton rallied from 46 points down to produce one of the greatest home-and-away wins with the one-point victory on Friday night before the euphoria was soured by day-after confirmation of Docherty’s injury.

Voss said Docherty wanted “no sympathy” in his rehab and and would take on a coaching and mentoring role during his 12-month recovery.

Aside from the emotional impact of the cruel Docherty blow, Voss said the veteran defender would also be missed from his team, which is looking to go one better than last year’s preliminary final and would turn to their “resilience” to move forward. Foot

“(We were) gutted for him. It certainly levelled me out pretty quick,” Voss said on Monday.

“He’s going to be missed, he’s a loved person to us. The other thing is we understand the real challenges he’s had in his life in most recent times.

“But he’s been a really important person to us and it won’t feel quite the same without him being there with us.

“But we have to move on and get to what our next challenge is. Football clubs are incredibly resilient places.”

Voss said players including Matthew Carroll were among the “options” available to replace Docherty confident the potential replacements were all in form.

Curnow, who suffered a series of injury setbacks early in his career, said it was “hard to believe” Docherty had suffered the devastating injury given their post-match conversations at the Gabba.

“It’s a hard one to believe. How much can one bloke endure and that’s only on the injury front?” Curnow told SEN.

“It seems really unfair and I send my best wishes to him and his family. I know the impact injuries can have on everyone.

“It just didn’t seem like an ACL. It caught everyone by surprise. Shocking.”

Up to 90,000 people are expected at the MCG for Thursday’s clash against the Tigers, who lost by 39 points to the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday, with Voss declaring “all out energies” go into improving on their first win.

“We have to take that progressive mindset into this game an find areas we need to improvise,” he said.

“There were plenty of areas we walked away from that game knowing we could get better.

“We want to have a powerful brand of footy.”

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