It may only be four weeks into the AFL season, but Carlton fans have simply had enough and want change.
The Blues delivered the latest chapter in their second half fade-outs on Friday as they blew a 21-point fourth quarter lead against North Melbourne.
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North kicked the final five goals of the contest to secure the 10-point win with Blues fans left incensed and the pressure amplifying on coach Michael Voss.
Through their opening four games of the season, the Blues have been outscored by 166 points in second halves.
In an even more damning stat highlighted by the Herald Sun’s Tim Michell, they have led for 383 minutes out of 492 … that’s 78 per cent of game time that they have been in front.
And yet they sit at 1-3 on the season with the only win coming courtesy of Richmond’s Tom Lynch being horrifically inaccurate in front of goal.
The fade-outs have left Blues fans up in arms and demanding heads to roll in order to save anything on the season.
Former Blues player turned media personality Dan Gorringe summed it up best for the fan base, posting a video of himself emotionally distressed in the shower shouting for the club to sack Voss and sack everbody.
“It can’t keep going on. Please sack him, sack everyone,” Gorringe said in the upload which you can view above.
Code Sports posted a video to social media talking to Blues fans as they streamed out of Marvel Stadium on Friday.
“Got to be the worst Easter I’ve ever had,” one fan said.
Another added: “You know what mate, cancel your membership. This is done. There’s no point anymore. It’s done.”
Carlton post-game uploads on social media were met with a vast array of mixed emotions with plenty calling for Voss to be shown the door while others pinned the blame on the playing group.
Carlton fan Daniel Barillaro wrote on X: “I and all Carlton fans have done our best to believe and support. But this is genuinely ridiculous. We are the laughing stock of the league. Can’t support this. Mentally it’s broken. Emotionally it’s sapped. Physically it’s unrewarding. It’s gotta change. Unacceptable.”
Jared Ryan Masters wrote on Facebook: “Press conference tonight announcing Voss sacking??”
Carole Atkinson wrote: “The coach can only do so much, the players must take responsibility.”
Darren Quint posted: “Swing the axe on half the team first.”
Kenneth Ken Hussey echoed that sentiment by posting: “Swing the axe at player level first.”
Voss addressed the media following the third loss of the season and said the club’s inability to “manage moments” cost them.
“Obviously, coming out of half-time, the challenge was laid bare for us to be able to step it up a gear,” Voss said in the post-match press conference.
“We certainly did that, our tackle rate was low (in the first half) — I think mainly because there were so many uncontested marks from both teams.
“But then to dial up the pressure in the third quarter and from that point on, I felt like — from quarter-time, to be fair — that looked like more of our game.
“But we have to manage minutes, and we have to manage moments. And we didn’t, and they were good enough to.”
Voss was then asked if it’d become a mental thing for the players – being able to close out games – prompting the veteran mentor to pause for a few seconds.
He then said: “I didn’t suspect it was that way today.
“But (I) understand the query, probably in the last few weeks.
“But when you look at the group, and you get to know your group pretty well, you can see how engaged they are and the detail in their roles.
“Their intensity around the contest, ability to have composure in the game when it was needed, and I thought for large parts of the game there are a lot of gains to acknowledge in that area.
“But we also can’t walk past the fact that you’re not finishing games. So, our ability to ice that game was from a really strong position, and we weren’t able to do it. So, we’ve just got to own that and go to work on it.”
The club will get their chance to prove they aren’t struggling with mental demons when they take on the Crows next Thursday at Adelaide Oval.
Whether or not Voss will be sitting in the coach’s seat remains to be seen.
