Angry Voss lashes 'unacceptable' Lions

[Master Q]

AN ANGRY Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss has labeled his team’s 19-point loss against Richmond at the Gabba on Saturday night “unacceptable”.

Voss spoke to his troops behind closed doors for 20 minutes after the match and did not mince words in his press conference, saying his team had lost the ferocity that marked its winning first month.

“I’m pretty angry, so I’m just trying to keep my head right now,” he said.

“We’ve lacked that uncompromising nature that we started the season with.

“As a result we get inconsistent effort. Some guys are putting in an enormous amount of effort and some aren’t. You can’t have games where eight to 12 guys are trying their hardest and six aren’t. Unless we’re willing to bring that game we’ll keep getting walked over.

“I think that terminology got used about Hawthorn, I’m not sure who said it, unsociable football, well, we’re sociable.”

Champion midfielder Simon Black was a late withdrawal with a virus, but Voss was in no mood to make excuses. He said continuity was nice but the Lions had to find a way to overcome the injury problems.

“Eventually you have to go out there and do it, that’s where we get judged, on Saturday afternoon. It’s not one thing, it’s a multitude of things and it’s just going to take a while to work through that.”

When quizzed on the performance of his spearhead Brendan Fevola, Voss bristled and said all players should be wary of their place in the team.

In his 200th game the former Carlton full-forward had a nightmare, kicking just one goal and failing to have an influence.

“I’d like to single it out but that would be unfair,” Voss said.

“I don’t believe in giving reasons or excuses for performances like that. I’d consider dropping anyone that doesn’t get to the standards we expect - no-one is immune in our system. To single him out is clearly unfair though.”

:o