3 days ago
6
Opinion
May 12, 2026 — 11:58am
Michael Voss was the ninth man to have coached the Blues this century. By surviving into a fifth season and making two finals series and one preliminary final, he out-performed the Carlton averages and was treated more leniently than his numerous predecessors.
His demise was a slow and painful process that seemed as inevitable as Carlton’s second half fade-outs. One could argue that he was doomed from the outset of 2026, entering the season without a contract for next year, in his fifth season while the Blues were beginning a list reset built around young draftees.
Few within the game thought he would coach long past the 2025 season, when the Blues slumped following that brief flirtation with success in 2023-24. The Blues had been besieged from the first game of ’25 when they were overrun by lowly Richmond.
Voss had been appointed by the Luke Sayers and Brian Cook regime, ahead of Giants’ coach Adam Kingsley, in an appointment that still had a touch of old Carlton, as they choose the brand name and former senior coach ahead of the seasoned and tactically adroit assistant who had been in a successful system (Richmond).
But the regime change of 2024-25, when Graham Wright was installed as CEO-designate - with Sayers forced out by an unseemly scandal and replaced by the more sober Rob Priestley - did not augur well for the ex-Lions legend.
Voss had been a candidate in the Collingwood process that Wright had orchestrated and which led to the appointment of Craig McRae. He had been placed behind Kingsley then, and was less fancied by Wright than Sam Mitchell, who was approached and duly won the Hawthorn gig ahead of schedule.
Collingwood’s successful coach-search now shapes as the logical template for the Blues.
Old Carlton would already be on the phone to John Longmire with a contract offer, or meeting him in a CBD office. Or trying to prise Chris Scott out of Geelong.
The Wright version of Carlton appears most likely to run a genuinely open process, in which the best assistant coaches are canvassed, interviewed and assessed, and in due course, one selected.
On Tuesday, club insiders felt that the Blues would run an in-depth process, as Collingwood did in 2021, and look for the most suitable assistant from the 18 clubs.
They have the No.1 pick in the coaching draft, and should not give it up for an experienced coach, unless he is exceptional.
The Blues know that their playing list is far from premiership-ready, that they have to bring in prized father-son recruit Cody Walker and others to support Harry Dean and Jagga Smith and to remodel themselves to a modern outfit geared around running and ball use.
Voss did not have the full confidence of the new regime, even though they admired his strength of character and hoped he would succeed. They shuffled assistants and support staff around him, and hired Chris Davies as the new head of football from Port Adelaide; Davies knew Voss well from their Port days.
When Priestley and Wright spoke to this masthead and to other media in late March about Carlton’s aspirations for 2026, it was noteworthy that the coach was not present and that the president said Voss would be judged on whether the Blues showed sufficient improvement across all facets of performance.
And they did not improve.
Voss’s best period, from mid-2023 until 2024 - a golden run when premiership contention appeared probable - was built off a strong defence and contested brand in the midfield. The Blues had strong bodies around the ball, Jacob Weitering anchoring the defence, and two pillars in attack, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.
The transition game and emphasis on speed, however, rendered Carlton’s midfield a cumbersome Mack Truck with Patrick Cripps surrounded not by fleet-footed runners, who could kick, but by the similarly sturdy ball-winners, headed by George Hewett and the oft-hamstrung Adam Cerra.
Curnow did not enjoy Voss’s coaching and sought a trade to Sydney. McKay’s parlous confidence dissipated. The Blues had given up draft capital and salary cap room for players who were either declining, injured or unable to redress that running shortfall.
Voss was lumbered with lumberers.
His critics would contend that the coach had played a key part in constructing the slow coach midfield and in emphasising “contest and defence” as a mantra. Many fans wanted him removed forthwith last year, and felt this year shaped as a wasted one given he was a longshot to endure in to 2027.
This view did not give consideration, though, to the reputation that the Blues have carried, to their detriment, of jettisoning people, of not treating staff and especially coaches well and for impatience and quick fixes.
Carlton did not lose anything from hanging on to Voss for an extra nine games this year and have gained far more from doing so.
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