By Brittany Busch, Jon Pierik and Steve Barrett
Former Carlton president and premiership captain Stephen Kernahan has called on the club to stick with besieged senior coach Michael Voss and for the players to “work their arse off and fight” their way through their horror run.
The man who led Carlton to their last premiership said he hopes Voss is given the chance to at least complete his contract, but a senior club figure has conceded his and the coach’s futures at the club are uncertain.
Carlton coach Michael Voss and player Flynn Young at Melbourne Airport on Friday.Credit: Alex Coppel
A heavy loss to Port Adelaide on Thursday night has all but ended the Blues’ hopes of making the finals, and increased pressure on Voss, who is contracted until the end of 2026.
After the Blues arrived back in Melbourne on Friday, and just hours after graffiti was sprayed across Ikon Park calling for his sacking, Blues football boss Brad Lloyd conceded his and Voss’ futures at the club were uncertain.
But club great Kernahan, the man who captained the Blues to the flag in 1987 and also to their most recent premiership in 1995, said he hopes Voss is given time to turn the team around.
“I back our club and coach, and our players will have to work their arse off and fight their way out of it,” Kernahan told this masthead on Friday night.
The 6-9 Blues face the top-of-the-table Collingwood and reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions over the next fortnight.
However, former Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola called for a board cleanout.
Fevola initially backed the coach but then suggested Voss might have lost the players, given their lacklustre performance against the Power.
“The board needs to go. I’ve been saying that for ages ... Get new people in, get old Carlton people in. Blokes like [1995 premiership player] Fraser Brown, who would be amazing on the board,” Fevola said on Fox FM.
Graffiti at Princes Park on Friday morning.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“Everyone is saying, ‘Sack Vossy, Vossy needs to go’, and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think that’s the go.’
“It gets to a point where you go, ‘I don’t think the players are playing for you, mate.’ If you’re playing for a coach, you don’t put up what you put up in that first half.”
Carlton club great Stephen Kernahan.Credit: AFL Photos
Speaking to reporters as the team arrived at Melbourne Airport, Lloyd said he was “unsure” if he and Voss would be at the helm of the club in 2026.
“Unsure about that. We’ll just keep at it, keep going to work. [It’s] for others to judge that,” Lloyd said.
The graffiti, sprayed on the wall at Ikon Park overnight before being washed off Friday morning, called for the Blues’ board to be sacked. It also put the spotlight on Lloyd and list boss Nick Austin, but said Voss should survive.
Lloyd backed Voss and the board in the face of mounting public pressure and dismissed “toxic” fan behaviour.
A Blues spokesman said neither club chief executive Brian Cook nor incoming chief Graham Wright were commenting on Friday, pointing to Lloyd as the frontman.
The graffiti was washed off on Friday morning.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Someone, presumably a furious Carlton fan, scribbled graffiti at the Blues’ Princes Park headquarters before dawn on Friday calling for change at the club.
“I understand the disappointment, that’s for sure. It just depends on how you conduct yourself in that sort of thing,” Lloyd said.
“There’s behaviours that can work towards getting better outcomes for the club, and there’s probably toxic behaviours as well that don’t help anyone.”
Lloyd said Voss, who declined to answer questions when he arrived at Melbourne Airport on Friday, was hurting over the team’s form, but “holding up”.
The general manager of football said the club would need to stick together and not crumble under the scrutiny.
Carlton’s Tom De Koning and a fan at Melbourne Airport. Credit: Alex Coppel
“Staying connected, making a safe environment for players to come in, do their work ... So just getting to work together, not fracturing,” would be the plan, he said.
Asked if more performances like Thursday night’s 50-point loss would force players, including Tom De Koning – who is considering a huge offer to cross to St Kilda at the end of the season – out, Lloyd said players were smart and could look to the future.
De Koning’s decision was also on the minds of the vandals. They wrote: “TDK yes or no?”
Wright will be the key decision-maker in assessing the Blues’ season, which is teetering with the team sitting 11th on the ladder with six wins and nine losses.
Last week pokies king and Blues financial backer Bruce Mathieson called for a complete overhaul of the club’s list, telling this masthead Carlton “haven’t got a good player under 25”.
Defender Nick Haynes’ message to his underperforming Carlton teammates on Thursday night was simple: shape up or ship out.
Haynes backed under-siege coach Voss after the Blues’ 50-point hammering at the hands of Port, insisting the blueprint remains solid.
The veteran defender believes it’s up to the players – himself included – to execute Voss’ gameplan better and for longer.
“We’ve played some good quarters this year, which shows the system works,” Haynes said. “When we do, it looks exciting.
“But we haven’t been able to play that system for long enough; for four full quarters. We definitely take onus for that, and it will be our goal next week.
“And if blokes don’t do it, we’ve got plenty of young guys coming through the twos who will play the system we want.”
The Adelaide Oval horror show came just five days after a shock 11-point loss to North Melbourne.
Carlton have spent big to build a seasoned squad for the ‘now’, but the results continue to disappoint.
Voss’ position as senior coach of the Blues is under increased scrutiny.Credit: AFL Photos
Retired great Lance Franklin said during the week he doesn’t expect Voss to see out the season, suggesting change “needs to happen, and it needs to happen ASAP”.
“You can’t target the coach on our fundamentals and consistency,” said Haynes.
“It’s on us players to execute that … Our goal now is to play the system we’re after for four quarters.”
Voss didn’t absolve himself or the players of blame after Carlton conceded the first nine goals against Port.
“It’s a collective accountability – there’s no separating groups here,” he said. “We always look at ourselves [coaches] first, then impart some of the things we need to in front of the players and ask them to play to the standard as well.
“We’ll look at it thoroughly and see what we need to correct.”
With the wolves circling, Voss insists he’s still the right man for the job.
“That was very unlike us, the way we turned up,” said Voss, whose coaching record now sits at 88-105-2.
“When you look at our body of work, there’s been a genuine shift in our numbers – and in a really good way ... That doesn’t leave me in any doubt whatsoever about what we’re trying to create here.”
Mick Malthouse was let go as Carlton coach after 54 games from 2013 to 2015. He spoke to The Age’s chief football writer Jake Niall in March about the club’s history of coach sackings, and his own experience.
“I knew I wasn’t going to last there, but I enjoyed the player group, staff were fantastic. Supporters – they have every right to boo, and they booed me quite frequently, apparently, according to my wife,” Malthouse said.
“The only regret I have is something that was out of my hands, is the fact that I was cut at round eight [2015]. I would have liked another couple of seasons just to massage the group, add on – and we needed to add on a lot of players.”
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