Now that Michael Voss’ second attempt at AFL senior coaching has officially failed, it is worth wondering just how galling it must have been for the three-time premiership captain and one of the greatest players in the modern game to have spent so much time in his post-playing role looking over his shoulder.
Voss became a senior coach way too soon. His legendary predecessor Leigh Matthews had rejected a succession plan involving his long-time skipper that the Lions board presented to him. Then Matthews saw the writing on his own well-decorated wall and retired one year before his contract was up.
Voss had been headed to West Coast to assume a lucrative senior assistant coaching role by then, but quickly headed back to Brisbane – taking over a tired old prizefighter of a club living in the shadow of recent glories and his famous predecessor. Voss, with zero coaching experience, made the finals in his first year but a series of wrong-headed decisions – and he alone wasn’t to blame – and the apparent availability of Paul Roos led to his sacking before the end of his fifth season.
The failure to launch his coaching career with a role on the Eagles’ staff was one in a long series of sliding doors moments for Voss which could have seen his career move in a different direction.
Another significant twist of fate occurred in late 2021, when former Blues president Luke Sayers virtually offered Ross Lyon the coaching role but then suffered cold feet due to concerns about a comment by Lyon at a Christmas function at Fremantle years earlier, which the AFL found did not warrant action. Voss’ determination to work toward a second chance had led him to Port Adelaide in 2015 where he spent seven years as Ken Hinkley’s assistant.
He missed out on the Carlton job once before successfully applying a second time after David Teague was sacked and Sayers communicated his second thoughts to Lyon.
Perhaps most galling for Voss was the knowledge that Carlton under new chief executive Graham Wright had entertained replacing him with his old friend and Lions premiership teammate, Craig McRae. Wright has denied this but many Collingwood people had become aware of the alleged approach. Whether the approach was direct or indirect, Voss entered 2026 aware that his superiors were considering an alternative to him.
From the outset, in 2009, Voss tempted fate by succeeding a fabled premiership coach. Then his Brisbane president Angus Johnson wanted Roos. Then Luke Sayers wanted Lyon and finally Graham Wright wanted McRae. The stated intent is that the Blues will now launch a detailed coaching process and while Wright has a history of appointing promising assistant coaches, it would defy all logic for Carlton not to strongly consider one of the most successful – and available – senior coaches this century: John Longmire.
Voss told his football boss Chris Davies last Friday that the Brisbane fixture would be his last for the club. He told friends he had had enough. By the Brisbane pre-game, Davies told 3AW that Voss was a “realist” and it was telling that Voss chose to coach from the box for a change. His final address in the long break brought out a spirited second half from a group that frankly looked like a rabble before half-time.
Although he spoke graciously on Tuesday morning to his players, coaches and football staff and then to the wider Blues administration, it was at the very least pointed that he did not sit alongside club bosses Wright, Davies and president Rob Priestley but chose to grant an exit interview away from the club to the AFL website.
Although Voss passionately defended his staff two weeks ago when emotions were still running high over the Elijah Hollands debacle, he did not feel similarly supported by his superiors. This is despite the fact he entered 2026 with a new head of football, six new assistant coaches, Travis Boak overseeing leadership and culture and a paid mentor in Adam Simpson.
Now much of the above reads like a massive compromise. Davies, his long-time colleague from Port can be excluded from that assessment because he seemed to be still finding his feet at the Blues and had worked to support Voss at every turn. But by the Good Friday loss to North Melbourne, everyone in a position of authority knew Voss was done. From the round 1 loss to Richmond last season, the ire of members and Carlton supporters permeated through the club and by the start of season 2026 the anti-Voss sentiment was difficult to escape.
Priestley himself did not shy away from the pertinent question of whether the indecision over Voss had led to another wasted year for the once-great club which has seen so many wasted years over the millennium and ended so many promising off-field football careers. “I wouldn’t put it like that,” said the president before admitting: “It’s not where we want to be.”
Wright disputed that Carlton could have retained Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni had the Blues moved Voss on at the end of last year, and he declared the question over Charlie Curnow staying had Voss departed a “hypothetical”.
Voss’ frustration with Curnow’s second and third efforts was understandable but ultimately, the coach’s uncompromising stand on contest and defence made him too inflexible, according to critics who worked closely with him. His exit interview with Curnow was unpleasant, underlining Voss’s emphasis on team over individual and highlighting how far apart the two had become. Voss made a negative crack, according to Curnow, about a future Coleman medal. Curnow could have been done with Carlton anyway, but perhaps he might have stayed had Voss departed. Ditto Silvagni.
Carlton were wrong to enter a fifth season with Voss when the club was not truly committed to him. He knew it and they knew it. The president and the CEO didn’t even bring him along when they presented to the print media early in the season.
Whatever interim coach Josh Fraser and the club’s promising young stars can achieve, this looms as a long and largely wasted year. It’s not simply the wisdom of hindsight to observe that backing a coach “into” the following season is hardly a vote of confidence. The players knew it, the supporters knew it and Voss knew it, particularly when the McRae reports surfaced. By round 1 this year it was clear that Fraser had been anointed the caretaker—another red flag for Voss.
Wright looked almost as uncomfortable on Tuesday as he did when he fronted the media three days after the Hollands game against Collingwood – a match that did not reflect well on Voss and his in-game judgment despite his obvious care and compassion for the player. Nor did it reflect well on Carlton, leading to an AFL investigation, a $75,000 fine and an ongoing WorkSafe review.
But the buck now stops with Wright, who has built a strong reputation as a list management expert and a football boss. Now he is trying to succeed as a club chief executive, and frankly his form to date has left room for improvement. On Tuesday, the Carlton backroom constantly reminded the public that Voss, who coached the club to its first preliminary final since David Parkin in 2000, was ultimately judged on his numbers: one win from nine this season and 12 from his past 40 games.
So now that Priestley and Wright have belatedly moved on Voss – albeit with the coach initiating the final cut – the opportunity lies for them to successfully mould the club with a new senior coach and a better long-term list plan. They did not choose Voss, whom Sayers ultimately preferred over Adam Kingsley, although his departure was clumsy and ultimately anti-climactic. Now they must demonstrate that they can finally be the leaders to turn the club around where so many before have failed.
Otherwise, judgment day will come for them as it finally came – nine games too late – for Voss.
