AFL News: Ross Lyon in push for Carlton coaching job as David Teague’s future is to be decided
In another pitch for the Carlton coaching job, Ross Lyon has revealed what football department is required at the Blues as a decision on David Teague’s fate looms large.
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Carlton should set its sights on soaring into the top four for the first time in 22 seasons next year, according David Teague, as Ross Lyon reaffirmed his desire to coach the Blues.
The two-club coach has kept his hat in the ring in the event if Teague is sacked on Monday.
Lyon on Sunday outlined the ideal football department required at Carlton should he win a third crack at a senior job, although the three-time grand final coach still believed four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson was more likely to land at Ikon Park following his departure from Hawthorn on Saturday.
New Blues president Luke Sayers is expected to confirm the worst kept secret in football on Monday and tear up Teague’s contract with a year to run.
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It is understood Teague is entitled to a six-month payout valued at around $200,000, which will be counted in Carlton’s football department soft cap.
Sayers’ board has had 11 days to digest the findings from the controversial external review, which is set to trigger widespread upheaval in the football department.
Football boss Brad Lloyd, recruiters Michael Agresta and Paul Brodie and assistants Cameron Bruce, Dale Amos and Brent Stanton are all under pressure to keep their jobs in addition to Teague after yet another underachieving season.
Fitness boss Andrew Russell, development coach Luke Power and list boss Nick Austin are all tipped to survive.
The messy fallout has resulted in the Teague and Lyon camps trading barbs after Teague’s manager Liam Pickering scalded Lyon for making “grubby” comments last week when he appeared to publicly position himself for a return to the box.
On Saturday night Teague conceded he was expecting the end would come on Monday.
But the man who has handled a toxic situation with nothing but class declared this year’s 8-14 campaign was sabotaged by injuries and a surge up the ladder into the top four was realistic in 2022.
Teague, 40, said multi-premiership coaches Damien Hardwick, Mick Malthouse and Clarkson as well as Brisbane Lions boss Chris Fagan had all reached out to reassure him that the progress made in his 50 games was satisfactory.
“When they mention the path we’re on is normal it does give you some confidence,” Teague said.
The despondent coach said bankable superstars Jacob Weitering, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay had helped sharpen the club’s culture and were ready to steel the Blues for a period of success.
“It’s their footy club for the next 10 years,” Teague said.
“They understand what high performance is.”
Teague lost senior assistant John Barker mid-year and was given little senior support in his two and a half years in charge.
Barker said on Sunday that the Blues’ leaders had offered nothing but “white noise” in recent weeks as Teague was hung out to dry.
Lyon went on the attack on Sunday, adamant he was simply answering questions as a media performer and would not dignify Pickering with a response.
“My situation, being out of it two years, you need to get assistants that are state of the art,” Lyon told Triple M.
“I know people with those capacities that have got all that.”
Lyon said AFL senior coaches also required a strong football boss to pull them into line, highlighting former Sydney boss Andrew Ireland’s control over Paul Roos and ex-Hawks boss Mark Evans with Clarkson, as well as a “really good” fitness expert.
‘Not true’: Is this Teague’s parting shot at Blues?
Emotion-charged Carlton coach David Teague expects to discover his job fate by Monday – and he fears he is going to be sacked.
The Blues’ 14-point defeat to the Giants on Saturday night brought an end to a drama-filled season on the field and more is to come away from it.
The feeling for some time was that Teague’s 50-game stint at the helm was set to end and he has grown increasingly vocal about the lack of support internally during this period.
He also believed the criticism had “got a little personal towards me”.
But Teague took the opportunity post-match to thank those who were there for him in this difficult time, including family, friends and coaching peers, who he said had been “amazing”.
“When you’ve got guys like Clarkson, Hardwick, Fagan and Malthouse mentioning they think I’m doing an OK job – (that) I’m tracking normally – it does give you a bit of confidence,” Teague said.
“I agree with them. I understand we haven’t won as many games as we’d like to, but our journey … I won’t use this as an excuse throughout the year, but it’s a fact – we’ve just been hit hard by injuries.
“Now the season’s over, let’s just state it. Our guys just keep turning up, keep competing and, other than last week, we haven’t been blown out of the water and I’m really proud of that.
“I’m really proud of the way they’re going about it, I’m really proud of the way we’re shaping our culture – there’s been a shift – and they’re the things I’m going to leave really proud of.
“I understand the club’s going to make a decision. Let’s be honest – it doesn’t look like it’s going to go in my favour.
“But in terms of what I’ve done, what I’ve been able to control; I know who I am, I know the way I’ve done (it), I’m really happy with that.”
Asked about how he rated his performance since replacing Brendon Bolton as coach midway through the 2019 season, Teague admitted he had made mistakes.
“Have I learned a lot? Absolutely. In these two years; it’s been massive learning,” he said.
“And to be honest, I talk to other senior coaches in the industry; they reckon the last two years, you’ll probably learn as much as you will in four, so I’ve learned a lot.
“Have I made mistakes along the way? I want to be clear with this. Absolutely. There are so many mistakes, and I’ve had so many learning opportunities.
“I’m not saying I’m a perfect coach, I’m not saying I’m a great coach, but in terms of what I’ve done and why I’ve chosen to do those things, I feel comfortable.”
Teague said he was pleased to play his part in helping the likes of Jacob Weitering, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay realise their potential.
But the 40-year-old said Carlton “has got some areas to improve” and that announcing its much-discussed football department review via the media was “not high performance”.
“I think even in the last three weeks – I won’t go into what – but I’ve seen an improvement at a level I haven’t seen in the past,” he said.
“In terms of transparency, they’ve been clear with me in terms of timeline. I’ve been comfortable with all the timeline.
“I probably challenged the other day for a little more support … I would’ve loved some people to come out and back me in.
“It hurt when people said I didn’t have relationships with the players, or I’d lost relationships with the players – that one probably dug a little bit deep, because it’s not true.
“Yeah, there are certain players who don’t love what I say all the time, but that’s what a high performance environment is.”
If this was Teague’s final game in charge of the Blues, he will finish with 21 wins and 29 losses.
He is already Carlton’s seventh senior coach this century, behind Wayne Brittain, Denis Pagan, Brett Ratten, Mick Malthouse, John Barker and Bolton.
One of the leading contenders to replace Teague if he does part ways with the club, Ross Lyon, spoke about his interest in the role on Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“I didn’t watch it, to be honest. I don’t watch a lot of those shows,” Teague said.
“My media briefings are going for a little bit longer than they used to, because I think from a narrative point of view, we’ve been very popular in the media to talk about.
“I think the media narrative hasn’t quite been fair on this football club and on this playing group.
“Expectations is a dangerous word, but at the start of the year, the so-called experts, not many of them had us in the eight. Our inability to create cohesion due to injuries has challenged us.
“In terms of what (Lyon) said; I’ve heard snippets of it. I haven’t seen it live – I don’t really want to waste my energy on those comments, to be honest.”
BLUES FAIL TO SEND RETIRING DUO OUT WINNERS
By Dan Batten
Carlton was unable to see off the retiring Eddie Betts and Levi Casboult in style as yet another second half Blues fadeout helped secure Greater Western Sydney a finals spot.
While it was a celebration for these Carlton figures in their final match, the 14-point loss looms as coach David Teague’s last at the helm with the findings of the Blues’ impending review to come to a head in the coming days.
Betts (nine disposal and two goals) had some almost moments late as an Ed Curnow inspired Blues fought tooth and nail, until a fitting highlight late in the piece.
The 34-year-old put the finishing touches on an illustrious 350-game career in the dying minutes with a fluent pick-up, baulk and right foot banana goal on the run.
But it seems an injustice that one of the greatest showmen in VFL/AFL history had to bow out in front of no spectators.
Betts will have a lasting impact on the game – both on the football field with his goalkicking magic and forward craft, and off it as an inspiration for Indigenous Australians and a prominent figure in the fight against racism.
The Giants wore their Indigenous guernsey in a touching tribute to Betts.
While Betts stole the spotlight, Casboult excelled in his final AFL game.
A fan favourite and whipping boy for Blues fans at different times his 154 game career, Casboult finished with eight disposals, two goals and 10 hitouts, giving supporters something else to smile about by bringing out his famous double cobra.
The Giants move into seventh spot on the ladder and a Battle of the Bridge showdown against Sydney looms in week one of the finals.
Hardened Giants midfielder Callan Ward (28 disposals and two goals) was superb for the Giants, while Ed Curnow sparked the Blues with four goals.
Weitering underlined his All-Australian claims with an imposing performance down back, and keeping his direct opponent Harry Himmelberg to one goal.
Blues captain Patrick Cripps – who racked up 17 handballs without logging a kick – was subbed out of the game in the third term with a minor foot injury.
RETIREES COMBINE
Betts and Casboult have played six seasons together and the outgoing pair combined like they had a telepathic bond to put Betts on the scoreboard.
With young Giants defender Connor Idun drawn into the contest and leaving the dangerous small forward alone, Casboult cleverly palmed the ball over his head to the open Betts who did the rest from close range.
The major was the 639th of his career and his 138th at Marvel Stadium, adding another later in the night.
OLD HABITS DIE HARD
Carlton fans have seen this movie before.
A period of the contest had Teague’s fingerprints all over it, with the Blues outfit conceding five consecutive goals from the late stages of the second quarter until a Curnow goal broke the streak.
It was the 23rd time the Blues have conceded a streak of five goals in a row in Teague’s 49 games as senior coach.
WELCOME TO THE CANDY SHOP
It might not have been an essential service but Jacob Hopper’s candy shop was open for business at Marvel Stadium.
The hard-nosed midfielder showed he has some tricks up his sleeve by selling candy to three Blues defenders with a trio of baulks before finishing truly with a banana from a tight angle.
The exciting manoeuvre was right out of the Betts playbook.
SKIPPER SUB
The curious case of Stephen Coniglio continued with the Giants captain named as the medical substitute.
The skipper was listed as four weeks away with a knee issue ahead of Round 22, but surprisingly got through a shortened practice match against Richmond last weekend.
Coniglio, who has played just five games this year after suffering long-term ankle and toe injury in Round 3, is scheduled to line up in another reserves hitout on Sunday after replacing defender Jake Stein in the final quarter and winning six touches.
While the Giants have a plethora of centre-bounce options, a fit and firing Coniglio will give them another dimension ahead of the finals series
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