A New Era for the Blues
Carlton Football Club has announced its intention to conduct a thorough and comprehensive search for its next senior coach, even if it means potentially missing out on elite candidates who are unwilling to participate in a formal process. This move is aimed at ensuring that the club’s recent decision to part ways with Michael Voss marks the beginning of a genuine football reset rather than a temporary setback.
During a media conference held on Tuesday, CEO Graham Wright, president Rob Priestley, and football boss Chris Davies emphasized that the club would “run a process” to appoint Voss’ successor. They acknowledged the need for a “circuit breaker” following a disappointing run of just 12 wins from their past 40 games.
Voss had already made the decision to step down before leading the team in their clash against the Brisbane Lions last Friday night. His choice came after ongoing discussions with club officials about his future, especially after the Blues lost eight of their first nine matches this season. Voss was aware that his contract would not be renewed beyond this season, and the decision to end the relationship was considered mutual.
“I’d just been feeling, particularly the last week, that it was time,” Voss said on the AFL website. “I didn’t want the result [of the game against the Lions] to be the emotional, or the acute response to change my opinion or change my mind.”
Voss explained that recent conversations with Priestly and Wright provided him with clarity regarding his decision. “You read into these situations, and it’s often about what they don’t say, not what they do say. And I read enough into those conversations, into what they didn’t say, to know that it was on shaky ground and the inevitable was starting to become clearer.”
He also expressed confidence that Carlton is now a better club than when he first joined. “No accountability, to full accountability – I mean, that’s just a completely different place. Substandard training standards, to elite training standards. The frustrating thing within all that is the actual end-up measure that we like to clearly tick over is the W [wins], and we haven’t been able to transfer that enough.”
Voss shared a humorous anecdote about managing to avoid the waiting media pack at Ikon Park on such a chaotic day. “I managed to scuffle away from the people who were waiting patiently out the front,” he said with a laugh. “My daughter had a role in that, so thank you to my daughter … It was a small win. And then I had another [person] tailing me through the back streets of Carlton.”
The 50-year-old informed players and staff on Tuesday morning before Wright, Priestley, and Davies addressed the media. “It was time for a change,” Wright said.
Carlton’s 11-point loss to the Lions was one of the more competitive games for the season, but the club hierarchy felt they weren’t making progress as quickly as they hoped. “We are clearly a very good stoppage and contested footy team, and we are looking to improve in those other areas which are winning football games in the modern era, which have been accelerated in the modern era by the rule changes such as transition,” Priestley said.
Carlton will host the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, with Josh Fraser stepping in as interim coach. “We have won 12 games out of the last 40. We do need a little bit of a circuit breaker to move forward,” Priestley said. Carlton won 49 of 103 matches with Voss as coach.
In a fascinating twist, Wright admitted that the club might miss out on experienced coaches who are unwilling to go through a process with other candidates. “We haven’t had any of those conversations with anyone. We haven’t actually put together a list of people that we want to speak to, but we will run a process. So, I would’ve thought that could rule people out,” he said.
Ironically, Carlton has been down that path before. At the end of 2021, after sacking David Teague, the club approached Ross Lyon and Brad Scott to be his successor. Both were interested in the job but unwilling to interview for the position. Lyon was virtually guaranteed the job, before it was overturned at board level. Eventually, Voss was plan B.
Wright said the club was in genuine transition in recent years, restless to improve and had to acknowledge there was some gap to the rest of the competition. He argued that the loss of Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni had been balanced, to some extent, by the addition of experienced players Will Hayward, Ollie Florent, Ben Ainsworth, Liam Reidy and Campbell Chesser.
“We think he had a decent enough runway,” Wright said.
Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps was asked about his future at the club in the wake of Voss’ departure. “I’m contracted to next year … I’m really committed in terms of this season. I’m not just going to wave the white flag and waste a year; there’s a lot of footy to play out this year,” he said.
But vice captain Jacob Weitering was more emphatic about his plans. “Yes, most certainly; I made the decision a long time ago that I wanted to be a Carlton player for life. I’ve got five years left, I think, on my contract … the leaders have got a job to do; we’ve got to lead this club forward through actions and words and I want to be a part of that,” he said.
Despite speculation about Voss’ tenure, Cripps said the decision caught the players off-guard. “I was shocked. It’s early in the year … I didn’t think it was going to happen like this. [I’m] just trying to absorb it all,” Cripps said. “I think everyone has a shared accountability of where we’re at right now, it’s not just on Vossy.”
Cripps said the Coach’s departure had left the players with a “hollow feeling”, but they were keen to make an impact in the rest of season 2026.
Voss addressed a meeting of players and all staff at 10am, but declined the club’s invitation to appear at Tuesday’s press conference. He had phoned captain Patrick Cripps to tell him about his resignation before the news broke publicly. “He’s been a great mentor and a great coach to me,” the dual Brownlow medallist said after arriving at the club on Tuesday morning. “Our relationship’s really strong and it’s all I can really say now.”
Teammate Ollie Florent said he was sad to see Voss depart. “He’s Michael Voss, he’s led by example for so long. I’ve never had this many cameras in my face before. It’s really sad to see him go,” said Florent.
Earlier, football director and club legend Greg Williams was forced to awkwardly navigate several laps of the car-park in his club-issued Hyundai before he eventually gave up and parked around the back.
Wright and Davies were in early, collecting coffee orders and banana bread just before 8am before disappearing into the bowels of the club’s administrative offices.
The Blues’ only win so far this season was against Richmond in round one, by four points. They have lost seven games in a row and the pattern of giving up half-time leads proved debilitating for Carlton and for Voss.
In five of their eight losses this season, they were leading at half-time. The club has also been engulfed by controversy over young footballer Elijah Hollands, who experienced a mental health episode on the field in round six but remained on the ground until deep in the final term. The AFL fined Carlton $75,000 over the incident but did not find any individual responsible. Voss had launched a ferocious defence of Blues staff who had been caring for Hollands.
Last season the Carlton hierarchy, led by new CEO Wright, only guaranteed that Voss would coach into 2026. His contract expires at the end of this year.
Voss, the champion former Brisbane Lions player who led their dynasty in the early 2000s, took over as coach at the end of 2021 following the sacking of Teague, beating Adam Kingsley to the position.
The Blues narrowly missed the 2022 finals series by losing to Collingwood in the last round, and the next season Voss coached them to a preliminary final against the Lions following an incredible turnaround after his position had appeared in peril.
The Blues’ leadership backed him strongly but from the mid-point of the 2024 season, when they were in the top four, they slumped and were unable to recapture their 2023-early ’24 peak.
Their run of hot form can be traced to half-time of the round 17 match in 2024 against GWS. At that point of the season they were sitting second, more than a game ahead of third place. But they gave up a lead that day to lose to the Giants, and won just 12 of their next 40 matches before the agreement was reached on Friday to end Voss’s tenure.
Voss finishes with 103 games as Blues coach for 43 wins, 53 losses and one draw.
He previously coached the Lions from 2009 to 2013.
