By Marc McGowan and Danny Russell
In today’s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:
- Carlton promises tough calls as pressure mounts on Voss.
- Pies vow to protect Daicos from taggers.
Tough calls loom at Blues, footy boss promises
Marc McGowan
Carlton football boss Brad Lloyd has foreshadowed “tough calls” at the club after echoing coach Michael Voss’ sentiment that the under-performing Blues have not met expectations.
Voss vents at his players during the loss to North Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
There is heightened focus on Voss’ coaching future – and Carlton in general – after an 11-point defeat to North Melbourne on Saturday, following a costly middle two quarters where they were out-scored 12 goals to three, including an eight-goal run either side of half-time.
The Blues have slumped to 10th on the ladder with a 6-8 win-loss record, leaving them two games and significant percentage outside the top eight and in danger of missing the finals for the first time since 2022.
They exited the finals in the first week last year after an unlikely preliminary final appearance a season earlier, so further regression could threaten Voss’ job despite him being contracted until the end of next year.
However, Lloyd said the pressure was on everyone at Ikon Park and not just Voss despite another “very disappointing performance” that caused fans to be visibly upset in the stands, while others left the match early.
“[There was a] very flat feeling in the rooms after the game,” Lloyd said on 3AW.
“We’ve got Port in four or five days’ time, so we’ve got to get back into it pretty quickly. We can understand the disappointment of our supporter base, so it puts a lot of pressure on the club, but we’ve got to stay resilient and respond to it.
Disapointed Carlton players Tom De Koning and Charlie Curnow walk from the ground.Credit: Getty Images
“We haven’t met expectations. I certainly thought we’d be going better than we are at the moment … [but] we think we’ve got a good core group that can carry us through.”
Graham Wright will officially replace Brian Cook as Carlton’s chief executive at season’s end, but Lloyd said the ex-Hawthorn and Collingwood mastermind was already having an influence and attending meetings.
“Graham’s been with us since December, and he’s been really adding already – it’s not a sudden thing … Whether you call them tough calls or considered calls, he’ll just keep weighing things up and making adjustments where he needs to,” he said.
“There’ll be some things where there’ll be stability required. There’ll be other things where there’ll be some change required here and there.
“Those decisions will be made accordingly, but they’ll be well-considered. They won’t be caught up in hysteria. People get emotional either way, whether you’re going well or whether we play the way we did [on Saturday].”
Lloyd said Carlton had improved defensively – only Essendon, West Coast, North Melbourne and Richmond conceded more points last season – and were still a “good contested ball-winning side”, but that they needed to move the ball better and capitalise on more of their inside 50s.
Veteran Sam Docherty also shared his annoyance post-match at how it took the Blues until the last quarter – when they were 46 points behind – to play with “any dare”.
“We’re a bit frustrated with the way we are playing and the way we are connecting,” Docherty said.
“They beat us around the ball, so full credit to North. That’s our bread and butter [usually, but] they smacked us around there, and we weren’t able to hold on to the ball, with any composure in the game at all. They were too fast … [and] we couldn’t defend the ground properly.
“All facets of the game started going wrong in the second quarter.”
Speaking on 3AW, Richmond champion Matthew Richardson said the Blues should trade one of their stars to try to bring in multiple early draft picks, suggesting injured key forward Harry McKay was the best candidate.
Windhager fined for striking Daicos
Collingwood veteran Jack Crisp has warned anyone who tags Nick Daicos to expect physical attention from the young superstar’s Magpie teammates after Saint Marcus Windhager’s tactics were criticised during Saturday night’s clash at Marvel Stadium and attracted a fine from the match review officer.
The battle between Marcus Windhager and Nick Daicos was must-watch viewing all night.Credit: AFL Photos
St Kilda tagger Windhager clamped down on Daicos from the first bounce, when he gave away a free kick for a shove to the chest, but some of his off-the-ball tactics were described as “outside the code” by dual North Melbourne premiership player David King.
The match review officer on Sunday fined him $1500 ($1000 if he pleads early) for striking Daicos in that incident just seven seconds into the game.
Vision aired by Fox Footy showed Daicos reaching for his hamstring and turning around to remonstrate after Windhager made contact with his leg. The Saint then whacked Daicos on the bicep as he followed him into the forward line, and then appeared to deliver a soft slap towards his face, prompting the Magpie to throw his head backwards.
“This is the sort of stuff that’s going on. Little knees to the back of the hamstrings. I think that’s too far,” King said on Fox Footy.
“Taggers do anything to get under the skin,” King added. “Just little things that are a step too far. [Knees] are a no-go, I think that’s outside the code ... If that’s happened 15, 20 times, I’d expect a call from the AFL. We’ve got to look after our star-factor players. The game owes these players some sort of protection.”
Collingwood scored a workmanlike 34-point victory, kicking the last four goals of the game.
Daicos, who still had 30 disposals, broke free to kick a brilliant goal during the final term, prompting Daicos to celebrate as if he’d won a grand final and his teammates to erupt around him.
Crisp told this masthead the Collingwood players were determined to stick up for Daicos, which showed as Scott Pendlebury chested Windhager as he followed his opponent to the interchange bench.
Marcus Windhager lays a crunching tackle on Nick Daicos.Credit: Getty Images
“That’s something we spoke about throughout the week. He’s gonna probably get tagged every week,” Crisp said.
“He’s gonna work through parts of it, and we’ll help him out with a lot of it as well. We’re not going to leave Nick out on an island to get through the battle. We make sure we support him.
Daicos appeals to the umpire.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“If he’s getting close attention, we’ll give it all back. Make sure he knows that we’re supporting our teammate.
“We’ve got to support our young players, especially Nick. If they’re going to follow him around mid, back, forward, wherever he goes - even to the bench - we will make sure we help him out.”
Collingwood coach Craig McRae said it was up to the umpires to decide whether Windhager had crossed the line.
“The job of the tagger is to disrupt, isn’t it? That’s his job. He’s doing it within the rules I suppose if they don’t pick it up,” McRae told Fox Footy.
“I’m not going to comment on the kneeing and things like that; that’s obviously up to others to decide if that’s a bit too far.
“I just loved how Nick got on with it tonight ... some weeks they [taggers] can run with you, some weeks they can’t. Again tonight, I think Nick won that battle.”
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon had a different view of the Daicos-Windhager duel.
“Daicos had a fair bit of ball ... I think we handled that,” Lyon told reporters after the match.
“We’ll probably go early and look at some of those free kicks. I am not sure they’re free kicks, but I think we’ll take that in and ask the question ... Are there two sets of rules going around? I am not sure, am I allowed to say that?
“I think he’s a great player, we know that, a great young player – at the end they get the points and go, ‘It didn’t work’.”
Crisp said the Magpie had not done enough to help Daicos during the King’s Birthday clash with Melbourne, when he received a close tag from Ed Langdon.
“We normally do that stuff. We probably didn’t do it as much to help out Nick last week, especially in the first half,” Crisp said.
“But teams are going to try and take away people’s strengths, and if it’s a close-attention tag, then we’ll try and support him as best we can.”
Asked whether McRae had raised the need to support Daicos after the Melbourne game, Crisp said: “We probably left him out to dry a little bit, maybe in the first half we didn’t support him as much, but in the second half, we did our best.”
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