AFL 2021: Carlton people under the microscope as Blues strive to find answers for latest failure
Is there a clean out coming at Carlton as it attempts to get back on course after another flop season? Scott Gullan and Jon Ralph look at the football operations and coaching personnel.
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These are the people under the microscope as Carlton searches for answers over another lost season.
Already one domino has fallen, how many others will follow over the next few months is the million dollar question as the Blues try once again to get their ship in order.
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David Teague
Teague’s issue is that the Blues have gone backwards across his three seasons — from 6-5, to 7-10 and now 4-8 — at a time when the Blues list management suggests they are in the sweet spot. All bets are off given the impatience of Carlton, with the best-case scenario he loses multiple assistants but gets a final year of his contract to prove himself.
Brad Lloyd
Former Fremantle list manager who became Carlton’s football boss at the end of 2018. Could be in a potentially sticky spot if the push for ex-Dockers coach Ross Lyon becomes real given the pair are understood not to be on each other’s Christmas card list.
Andrew Russell
Director of high performance Russell is universally seen as the best in the business and at Carlton has added a leadership component to his fitness base.
But the Blues have been hit with a spate of contact and soft-tissue injuries, have been unable to keep Charlie Curnow and Mitch Curnow on the park, and have not had that leadership stand out on the field.
Chris Judd
Has been the board’s football director but flagged at the start of the year that he would be stepping down at the end of the season for family and business reasons. Judd’s reign was highlighted by his infamous “training wheels” remark regarding the Blues search for a coach, only to then backtrack and appoint Teague, an untried assistant.
List management
The Blues have only just restructured their list management after the departure of Steve Silvagni, with Nick Austin the list manager, Mick Agresta the national recruiting boss and Paul Brodie the Victorian recruiting manager. The Blues remain a destination club after narrowly missing only Dylan Shiel and securing Adam Saad and Zac Williams. Despite strong drafting they need Sam Petrevski-Seton, Paddy Dow, Liam Stocker and Lochie O’Brien to justify their faith.
John Barker
Departed just hours after the club’s review was announced. The midfield and stoppages coach had already told the Blues he would be leaving at the end of the season but this got accelerated to being immediately after a meeting with Teague on Monday. Barker was the most experienced head in the coaches’ box having joined Carlton as an assistant in 2011 after stints with St Kilda and Hawthorn. He was interim senior coach after the sacking of Mick Malthouse in 2015.
Dale Amos
The defensive coach is in a vulnerable spot given he’s been a part of the last five years of woe. Amos came from Geelong’s famed system after coaching the Cats VFL team for three seasons. Boasts an impressive coaching record at local level.
Brent Stanton
After 255 games at Essendon, Stanton has risen through the ranks to become the club‘s midfield and transition coach. He is still early in his coaching career.
But despite a star-studded midfield the Blues aren‘t seen to transition hard enough into defence when the ball is turned over.
Cam Bruce
Forwards coach Bruce might be the safest bloke in the joint given the Blues haven‘t struggled to kick scores. He arrived with huge wraps after spending time under Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn. Carlton’s issue is the reliance on Harry McKay, with only Eddie Betts and MAtt Owies joining him in double figures.
Luke Power
Highly respected former Brisbane premiership hero who arrived at Ikon Park at the end of 2019 as head of development. Comes from the AFL where he was held in high esteem for his work with the best young players across the country. Has former Geelong Falcons coach Daniel O‘Keefe and Torin Baker under his command.
Review
Incoming president Luke Sayers will lead an “external” panel who will conduct an independent review of the football operations. This had been scheduled for the end of the season but is now being fast-tracked.
HEY CARLTON … IS IT TIME TO CALL CLARKO OR ROSS THE BOSS?
Maybe it’s the lockdown, maybe they’re getting more savvy or maybe they’ve legitimately become sick of repeating the same thing.
A ring around of some Carlton legends 24 hours after they’ve watched the Blues produce yet another insipid performance provokes very similar responses across the board.
And there is one common denominator — three words “off the record”.
It’s almost like they’ve taken a vow of silence but are still bursting to express themselves.
A post-mortem of David Teague’s coaching performance against West Coast comes up with the following questions:
Why was 12-gamer Liam Stocker left on Liam Ryan?
Why wasn’t co-captain Sam Docherty given the responsibility to shut down Ryan?
Why was Ed Curnow, the Blues No. 1 stopper, left on a halfback flank?
Why was Andrew Gaff and Dom Sheed allowed to collect 62 possessions between them (think Curnow)?
Why was Jacob Weitering not thrown forward when Harry McKay went down?
Why wasn’t Patrick Cripps tried in the goalsquare?
What has happened to Marc Murphy who looks shot?
Why has Jack Martin gone backwards?
Teague’s body language was also a topic of discussion after he switched it up and sat on the interchange bench at the SCG on Sunday.
As one former old school coach said: “What’s the impression you get when you see the coach cross-legged on the bench looking as if he is meeting someone for a cup of coffee?”
The talk about the Blues’ lack of defensive system has been a focus over the past few weeks and it was again highlighted when a quarter-strength West Coast team waltzed through them with ease numerous times.
That raised more questions. Can a system be changed mid-year? Can a dramatic overhaul happen on the run? Where is Plan B?
“There are certain things which are set in stone,” one former coach explained. “The group you’ve got, you can’t really change the list so that is what you’re working with.
“Your game structure is very difficult to change because you train them and train them up all summer but there are times where you just have to do something different.
“On Sunday that was the day. The Eagles were missing six of their best players so that was a game begging for something different particularly the way the start of the game went.”
Another theory centred around Teague being too loyal to his senior players who basically got him the job when they backed him in after Brendon Bolton was sacked midway through 2019.
They helped him out so he feels obligated to back them which at the moment is clearly not working for him.
The set-up of the coaches’ box is questioned with the same voices having been in there for a fair while with doubts about whether John Worsfold is the man to dig Teague out of trouble.
And then there is the final question: What should they do about the coach?
“Their frame of mind at the moment for the powers seems to be to give him another year,” one former Carlton premiership great says.
“If they give him another year it will be a wasted year.
“They need to get (Alistair) Clarkson or (Ross) Lyon, it’s as simple as that.”
There is then a pause before the final send-off: “And that’s all off-the-record.”
WHY THE BLUES HAVE BEEN SO BAD FOR SO LONG
It’s often the small things which tell the biggest story.
Royal Parade is not the easiest of roads to navigate at the best of times as Carlton ruckman Matthew Kreuzer found out, as he dodged trams to get to the cafe he was seeking for some peace and quiet.
Back at Princes Park, his teammate Dale Thomas was hiding in his car for some alone time to eat a sandwich.
Inside, other players tried their best to be polite to the fans who continually interrupted their lunch.
The cafe, which the players shared with the public, was adjacent to the merchandise shop and a regular hive of activity.
It wasn’t exactly the ideal scenario for players who were looking for a break and some refuelling in between long training sessions.
This wasn’t that long ago, only three or four years back, but it’s a story which illustrates just how far behind Carlton has been for the best part of two decades.
Good football clubs have strong boards, a strong executive, a stable environment and … a room for players to hang out and eat together.
A group of high-profile supporters did raise the cash to get a recreational room built in a space previously occupied by a chief executive, whose choice of office positioning had raised eyebrows.
And in the $50 million redevelopment of Ikon Park, which is well underway, there isn’t just a chill-out area, the players and staff will have their own private dining hall overlooking the ground.
Facilities and an impressive bottom line are important, but the only real indicator fans care most about is the win-loss column which once again isn’t looking healthy for the Blues at the midway part of the season.
Chief executive Cain Liddle has seen how a club can turn around its fortunes — he was at Richmond before he joined Carlton in late 2017 — and is confident the building blocks are in place.
“The reality is that success is a lag indicator of sustained investment and for a period there, this is nobody’s fault, but for a period there we didn’t have the ability or the capacity to invest and as a result both our on and off field weren’t where they needed to be,” he says.
Liddle is being kind there because there have been plenty of wrong steps and poor decisions by ego-driven Carlton people which has seen the club, renowned for arrogantly parading itself as one of the Big Four, plunged into the darkest period of its existence.
The Blues collected their first wooden spoon in history in 2002 which was followed up by back-to-back bottom finishes in 2005-06.
They haven’t made a finals appearance since 2013, collected more wooden spoons in 2015 and 2018 with last year’s 11th-placed finish the best in seven years.
Over the past 20 years Carlton has seen seven senior coaches, six presidents and five CEOs come and go.
All have had big theories of fixing the place, all have talked a big game and almost all have failed.
So, what happened to the old dark navy Blues?
CAP CHAOS KICKSTARTS FALL
Bill Kelty knew it was too harsh.
The AFL Commissioner was sitting in a crisis meeting at AFL House in late 2002, which was deciding the penalties to inflict on Carlton who had been caught red-handed in rorting the salary cap.
The Blues had been paying players under the table and the league were determined to make a statement.
A fine of around $1 million was agreed on but when that was ramped up to include stripping the club of two years of prized draft picks – they had Nos. 1 and 2 in the next day’s national draft – Kelty put up his hand.
In his opinion – and that of fellow commissioner Chris Langford – the AFL issued a death knell to the Blues.
“It was just terrible,” Kelty said in Michael Warner’s recently released book “The Boys’ Club”.
“And I said, ‘This will cost them 10 years, Carlton will be buggered for a decade.’ And I left in the end saying if you want to make this decision, I’m not.”
The AFL went ahead without him and the following night Blues fans watched in horror as Brendon Goddard went to St Kilda at No. 1 and Daniel Wells to North Melbourne at No.2.
Businessman John Elliott, who had been president since 1983, fell on his sword but the man he’d lured to Princes Park as coach, two-time North Melbourne premiership coach Denis Pagan, was lumped with the whole mess.
“They made it impossible,” Pagan told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast last year.
“I don’t think the AFL realised how draconian the penalties were.”
The club was effectively broke with supporters asked to dip into their pockets to help pay the AFL fine.
New recruit Heath Scotland from Collingwood was even told to bring his own football to his first day at Carlton.
Despite his reputation and record as one of the league’s great mentors, Pagan was gone inside four years later after a tumultuous tenure which delivered back-to-back wooden spoons.
Included in this horror show was another significant event which diehard Blues fans say took the soul out of the club.
The AFL forced Carlton to leave its spiritual home at Princes Park in 2005 with president Ian Collins, who was also CEO of the Telstra Dome, making a deal with AFL Commissioner Graeme Samuel for the club’s home games to be played at the new indoor stadium.
NOT EVEN JUDDY COULD BOOST BLUES
Chris Judd was rightly seen as the Messiah.
He was a West Coast premiership captain, a Brownlow medallist, Norm Smith medallist and two-time All-Australian.
When he decided to return to Melbourne and make Carlton his home in 2008 – helped by a controversial third-party deal with VISY (owned by former Carlton president Richard Pratt) – it got the swagger back at Princes Park.
The hottest player in the competition had chosen Carlton and as one insider put it: “Chris Judd gave Carlton hope. He basically saved the joint because at the time there was no hope.”
His arrival coincided with the appointment of favourite son Brett Ratten as coach with club legend Stephen Kernahan taking over as president.
Three finals appearances in the next four years was a pass mark but there is an impatience about Carlton and its heavy hitting supporters that has been at the heart of problems in the past.
And it reared its head at the end of 2012 when Ratten finished outside the finals for the first time.
That was it for him with the Blues reverting to their old ways by trying to buy success and luring former Collingwood premiership coach Mick Malthouse out of retirement.
“They thought they could buy a coach and buy a flag again,” a former assistant coach said.
“The power figures at Carlton, the big money dogs, had a huge influence on that footy club.
“It’s different from other clubs, it’s obvious that what they say goes and people listen to them.”
RECRUITING ERRORS COME HOME TO ROOST
Carlton wasn’t the only club to be impacted by the draft concessions given to start-up clubs the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants.
It certainly wasn’t a good time to go to the draft in those years and more importantly it wasn’t a good time to make some bad calls in recruiting.
Every club has plenty of hits and misses, but the Blues had a horror run with their first picks which would come back to haunt them.
In 2009, the Blues took Kane Lucas at No. 12 (Nat Fyfe went at 20), in 2010 it was Matthew Watson at No. 18 (Cam Guthrie went at 23 and Jack Darling at 26) while Josh Bootsma was the first taken in 2012 at No. 22 (Lachie Neale was drafted at 58).
And then Troy Menzel was Carlton’s selection at No. 11 in the 2012 draft (Brodie Grundy went at 18) while Blaine Boekhurst was another ugly bust at No. 19 in the 2014 draft.
Favourite son Stephen Silvagni was then lured from GWS to get the ship in order as general manager of list management and strategy.
In his first draft SOS hit it out of the park in 2015, snaring Jacob Weitering at No. 1, Harry McKay at No. 10, Charlie Curnow at No. 12 with David Cuningham taken at No. 23.
He’d had a handy draft hand because the Malthouse experiment had backfired badly with the AFL coaching legend sacked after eight rounds with assistant coach John Barker taking over for the rest of the 2015 season.
This signalled a change of direction on many levels, suddenly the once-mighty Carlton were acknowledging a rebuild was required, as much as they hated to admit it.
Hawthorn was the flavour of the time given their run of premierships so one of Alastair Clarkson’s lieutenants Brendon Bolton was giving his shot in the main seat at Ikon Park.
Bolton introduced early in his tenure “green shoots” in reference to signs of development and improvement. It was a term that would go on to haunt him.
DEPLETED FOOTY DEPARTMENT
It was obvious to Cain Liddle. Carlton was in the bottom four of football department spend when he took over as CEO in 2018.
There were varying reasons for this – a huge debt associated with the Legends Stand which had been strangling the club for 25 years was at the top of the list – but the AFL trend was staring them in the face.
Successful clubs put money and resources into the football department and that runs hand-in-hand with results on the field.
However, the Liddle honeymoon was short-lived as he started to clash with Silvagni behind-the-scenes.
This was an awkward dynamic particularly for president Mark LoGiudice, who had done an excellent job in stabilising the board.
He was close friends with Silvagni, but when push came to shove at the end of 2019, he sided with the CEO.
Forcing a member of Carlton’s royalty – three generations of the Silvagni family had played for the Blues – out the door was a bold move.
It wasn’t helped by a messy club statement which tried to justify it by calling out the conflict of interest with his two son’s Jack and Ben, who were on the list.
“They handled it poorly,” one insider said.
“We have a board member there, David Campbell who is from Egon Zehnder, and he is supposed to be there for people and culture yet we still managed to stuff up the exit of a legend.
“And, unfortunately, Mark and SOS still haven’t broken bread over it.”
Then when Bolton’s “green shoots” failed to grow at all, the Blues were back at it again, sacking a coach – he was given the flick after winning just one game in the opening 11 matches of 2019 – and starting over.
Rather than pull out the cheque book they elected to hire from within after assistant David Teague was a revelation in the second half of the season, conjuring up six wins for the remainder of the year.
But there are recurring themes here which is what drives the Carlton faithful mad.
They have seemingly been in the same cycle for the past 20 years as one bad decision after another keeps them anchored at the wrong end of the ladder.
It’s hard to say that the players don’t feel the baggage of that history even if someone like Sam Walsh has had nothing to do with it.
He feels it, he sees it in the eyes of the faithful, that desperation for something different. That desperation to play in September. That desperation to be arrogant again.
Liddle says the club is finally in a position to break the cycle given its debt-free, has a record membership and sponsorship dollars coming through the door.
“We accept that it is a great privilege to work for one of the big four clubs, a club that has been so successful — the most successful with 16 premierships — and we accept that there is enormous expectation that comes with that,” he says.
“I don’t necessarily feel like there is any baggage that hangs over us, there are just consistently high expectations that are put upon us by our members and supporters and we embrace that.
“As I said part of our responsibility to our members is to block out that external noise and focus on continued and sustained improvement of our football club.”
At least the players‘ have a place to do that now … while they eat their lunch.
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