Former Carlton fitness head Andrew Russell reveals he lacked control over injury crisis at club

As Carlton’s injury woes grew worse this year, fitness boss Andrew Russell came under fire. But he has revealed he was frozen out of the lengthening rehab group at the Blues.

Former Carlton fitness boss Andrew Russell wishes he had more control over the injury woes that besieged his final days at the Blues, after the rehab group was taken out of his hands.

The respected fitness head parted ways with Carlton at the end of last season, closing a stint that began successfully before the club was smashed by injuries in 2024.

Russell was renowned in the AFL for his work at previous stops, including premiership years at Essendon, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn, but couldn’t arrest a series of soft tissue injuries at Carlton in 2024.

He was replaced by ex-Sydney fitness guru Rob Inness.

The crisis became worse as the year dragged on and a position in the top eight was put in jeopardy, as eight first-choice Blues missed a crucial round 23 win over West Coast.

Andrew Russell shares some thoughts with head coach Michael Voss. Picture: Michael Klein

As the heat rose on the fitness team at Ikon Park, Russell said he became frustrated he didn’t have power over the injured players like at previous clubs – and earlier in his Carlton tenure – despite him coming under external heat.

“I think the leadership structure that Carlton set up meant that I actually didn’t have a huge influence over a lot of those issues,” he told SEN.

“I wasn’t involved in a lot of the rehab of a lot of these players once they got injured, which was the way the club set it up. So that was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t have more of an influence on some of those guys, but I was the one in the hot seat and I copped some of the criticism for it.

“In the end I focused on the healthy group.”

Russell said he wished he had tried to take more power over the medical room.

It is common across the AFL for injured players to be set into a rehab group, which is removed from normall fit players, but fitness bosses are usually kept in the loop on the progress in rehab.

“The structure was changed in my time there and it wasn’t what the structure was throughout the entirety of my career there, that is just how it happened,” he said.

“My time in Port Adelaide and Hawthorn and early at Carlton, the leadership structure was different. So I probably would have pushed a bit harder in that space if I had my time again for sure.”

Charlie Curnow was among a group of Blues hit by injury. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Carlton addressed part of the fitness concern at the end of the season by cutting injury-prone players Jack Martin, David Cuningham, Matt Carroll and Caleb Marchbank.

Russell said those changes meant “a lot of Carlton’s issues with injuries are going to be resolved” and the club would have a “very normal” injury list in 2025.

Star midfielder Sam Walsh said last week that so far during pre-season under Inness the Blues had gone through “slight changes” to conditioning.

Charlie Curnow (ankle), Blake Acres (back) and Corey Durdin (shoulder) had their pre-seasons impacted by injury to various degrees but the Blues have had good numbers on the track to start summer.

Originally published as Former Carlton fitness head Andrew Russell reveals he lacked control over injury crisis at club