2 hours ago.

Updated 59 minutes ago

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At halftime Michael Voss was planning his exit strategy.

Half an hour later he and the rest of the Carlton faithful were daring to dream.

From 49 points down early in the third quarter, Carlton’s second-half fightback – a blue moon event in 2026 – should breathe some life into a downtrodden fan base.

It wasn’t a win. But after a season of sorrow, pushing the reigning premiers to the brink on their home deck almost felt like it.

Few gave the Blues any chance of an upset at the Gabba but when a bullish Voss boasted pre-match they had spent all week working on their defence, their fans might have expected more than what they served up in the first half.

They trailed Brisbane by 38 at major break and their 18 points was a season-low halftime score.

For a team that had spent all week working on its defence, the scoreboard and the tackle count – 31-15 in Brisbane’s favour – was telling.

Perhaps even worse, the Blues’ sole strength this season – clearance – was being dominated by Brisbane.

Football boss Chris Davies took a red pen to the team’s deficiencies in the pre-game and his critiques seemed to be playing out in real time.

“The challenge for us this year … has been short periods of time in the game,” Davies told 3AW.

“When we’re not getting ascendancy from a stoppage perspective we’re not able to move the ball as well as we need to from the back half.

“When stoppages are going against us and field position is going against us we haven’t been good enough to this point to be able to address that.”

It felt like a new low for Voss’ men.

But then the unthinkable happened. Carlton came out after halftime and showed some fight.

A five-goal salvo to end the third term cut the margin from 49 points to 20 at the turn for home. When Harry McKay kicked Carlton’s sixth-straight a minute into the final quarter it was game-on.

Even after Brisbane responded, the Blues still refused to yield.

Davies said Voss “deserves great credit” for keeping the playing group connected despite the dour on-field results.

Their second-half fight certainly looked more like a team that believes in itself and its coach.

The question is, how much more rope does Voss have to play with? And did this performance give him any more?

Davies deftly danced around a definitive answer when asked if the club had to make a call on the coach’s future before the end of the season.

“I think … that will clearly be a discussion from the commentators,” he said.

“My role right here, right now is to provide as much support to Michael as I possibly can.

“He knows – he’s a realist – that our performance needs to get better, and he’s working really hard to get that done and I give him great credit for his want to make our team better.”