The Blues made short work of last year's semi-finalists, dominating from start to finish in an 18.16 (124) to 9.12 (66) mauling at Manuka Oval in Canberra on Friday night.
McGovern was one of the stand-outs before his early exit, kicking one of Carlton's five goals and rising clear above GWS rookie Oliver Hannaford for an early mark of the season contender in a dominant 35-2 opening quarter.
His evening looked to have soured when he was forced into an early exit after tweaking his ankle taking a mark in the second quarter.
But Voss was unconcerned post-match.
"Yeah, he's fine, Gov," he said.Â
"It's part of the caution and playing with minutes, but there was certainly no risk with Gov. He'll be fine."
Key forward Harry McKay was also put on ice later in the contest, but his treatment was also merely precautionary.
McKay kicked two goals and was among a roster of Carlton players to impress.
Full forward Brodie Kemp finished with three goals, his third following an acrobatic mark over Jack Buckley in the final minutes, while Orazio Fantasia had two.
With his side having prevailed in just one of their final six matches to round out last season, Voss was encouraged to see the Blues have the edge over their opponents in ball movement, accuracy and physicality.
"Where the game's won and lost, in the midfield, we were quite dominant in there and able to get our front half game going which was pleasing," he said.
The Giants grew into the game after their horrendous start but were always second best.
Their leading goalkicker from last season, Jesse Hogan, snared three majors, while the diminutive Darcy Jones bagged two, but stars Toby Greene and Stephen Coniglio barely factored.
Carlton's Tom de Koning dominated in the ruck, finding his teammates in 12 out of 20 hit-outs, compared to 4 in 24 attempts by GWS's Lachlan Keeffe.
In another positive for the Blues, Jack Silvagni finished unscathed in his first game of any kind since round 19, 2023.
The forward-turned-defender will be a handy addition for the Blues following his recovery from an ACL injury.
Voss was pleased with a number of young players who gained their chance to press their AFL credentials.
Small forward Francis Evans kicked a goal in his first outing for Carlton after being given a third bite at the first grade cherry, having previously been delisted by Port Adelaide and Geelong.
"It was good for Frankie. We focused quite heavily on his defence and the reward was his goal," Voss said.
"But the pleasing part is we had nine players under 50 games.
"Lucas Camporeale was one on the wing that we liked, was one of a number who we liked. So we'll still keep injecting the youth, but we overall thought our leaders performed quite strongly and put us in a really good position."
