“We had periods through each quarter we were able to get the game at least a little bit in our favour. Our ability to be able to capitalise on that, and take our opportunities, but also when the moment requires, to be able to defend long enough for us to keep the scoreboard in a real arm wrestle was difficult for us to achieve today.

“We certainly weren’t able to keep it in our front half long enough to build any pressure.”

Voss lauded the performance of captain Patrick Cripps, who returned from a hamstring strain to kick three goals. But said his midfield as a collective “lowered our colours” on Saturday night.

“There was a collective group that went out there, and we weren’t able to get the job done today. That’s the way that I look at it,” he said.

The Blues sit at 4-2, and meet North Melbourne next Saturday. Voss said both Kennedy and Silvagni were likely to return.

“They’re probably the two guys that stand out that are strong possibilities for next week,” he said.

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“[Kennedy] just had a couple of things he’s been managing, and he couldn’t get through Thursday’s training session, so we took the position to give him the rest, and hopefully, he can recover pretty quick and ready to go for next week.

“Jack’s the same, he just gave himself a little tweak in the ankle on Thursday at training, and just wasn’t good enough to travel. We’re hoping that’s on the minor end, and they’ll both be good for next week.”

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