The tried and true Carlton narrative is playing out again after prime time embarrassment
After an unsuccessful history of being trigger happy, Carlton has preached unity and stability. But after another inexcusable performance, it can’t be a reason to protect Michael Voss now.
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If you look up the definition of coach killer, this game will be in there.
Coaches under siege can have losses, what they can’t have is losses like the one Michael Voss just had against Port Adelaide.
When effort and spirit goes for a struggling team, usually the coach is next.
It’s hard to think something could surpass being beaten by Richmond in the opening round but getting embarrassed by 50 points on prime time TV after kicking your first goal for the game a couple of minutes before half-time goes pretty close.
Not turning up after the week of intense pressure Voss had been under following last week’s loss to 16th placed North Melbourne, is inexcusable. Performances like this allow the assessment to drift into areas where questions are asked about whether the message is getting through or even if the players are still playing for the coach.
This was Carlton’s 16th loss from its last 24 games and, of those eight wins, only one is against a top-eight team.
That’s not a trend or a disappointing streak, that’s a large body of work which is hard to explain away when you’re supposed to be a team in the premiership window given you played in a preliminary final two years ago.
At half-time on Thursday night, 10 Carlton players had only touched the ball five times or less including a couple of big names with Adam Cerra four touches and Mitch McGovern just one. That says a lot.
In the lead-up Voss, had talked up how other teams would dream to be the best contested team in the competition like Carlton.
The problem is the rest of the competition don’t want to play contested football because it doesn’t win games like it did in yesteryear.
Port Adelaide avoided contests by keeping the ball off the Blues, using short kicks to cut through their sloppy defence and basically ran rampant at Adelaide Oval.
Ironically, the only major stat Carlon won for the night was contested possessions +11.
The rest was a tidal wave going Port’s way: +53 disposals, +34 kicks, +19 handballs, +12 inside 50s, +63 uncontested possessions, +45 marks.
Asked if he was still the right man for the job, Voss went into stats mode which smacked of grasping at straws.
“When you look at a body of work, it is going to probably be hard to understand this, but when you look at the results and the shift we have had in game style this year, there has been a genuine shift in our numbers and in a really good way,” he said.
“We were 14th for forward of centres, we’re now third, we are No.3 for inside 50s in the competition, we move the ball end-to-end, one of the best teams in the competition. I could rattle off more, clearance wise we are strong, we don’t get scored against at stoppage.
“All of those things today we weren’t able to stop, they scored from stoppages, we gave away marks, we couldn’t build the contest and pressure around the ball so we had to find other ways to be able to try and score.
“But that doesn't leave me in any, in any doubt, whatsoever of what we are trying to create here.”
And in his message to angry Carlton fans who would have spent the night throwing things at their TV, the Blues coach said it was time to come together in these tough times.
“What we won’t do, you will not see us do, is pass blame on anyone. What we will do is sit here and we will say what’s my role in this? And we’ll get to work hard on this,” Voss said.
“But we need everyone on board with this, that’s how we will approach that as a group of coaches, a group of players, our amazing support staff. What I feel right now as a leader is I feel really disappointed for our people.
“We feel we’re creating a great environment but we’re not getting the results we’re after, I’m enormously disappointed, we're not where we want to be but it’s time to come together, not isolate.”
Carlton is no stranger to this situation with Voss quickly approaching David Teague territory.
Remember back in 2021, there was a weekly referendum about Teague’s job. Initially he was energetic and defiant, the players said they loved him and then by the end he was a defeated man.
This week Voss has been, wait for it, energetic and defiant, and drum roll please, captain Patrick Cripps said the players loved him and are 100 per cent behind him.
You can fill in the gap of what goes next in this tried and true narrative.
The camp who preaches stability and sacking the coach isn’t the answer are mainly arguing that based on Carlton’s history. They have been more trigger happy than most and it hasn’t been a greatly successful tactic but that can’t be a reason to protect Voss.
There are two premiership coaches who are enjoying their first year out of the hot seat in Adam Simpson and John Longmire. Can they have their arms twisted? Out of the pair, Simpson might be more open to it and don’t the Carlton high rollers like to pump their chests out about being able to buy success.
Maybe even the man who orchestrated their demise on Thursday night, Ken Hinkley, would be worth a phone call. He’s probably looking forward to a holiday but has a proven record in lifting teams emotionally and teaching players to play fast football.
Hmmmm, don’t we know a club who needs exactly that?
Whichever way you look at it, incoming CEO Graham Wright has to make change, it’s just a matter of where he makes the biggest cuts. Football department, recruiting department, high performance department, coaching line-up, they’re all spluttering.
With Collingwood and Brisbane coming up in the next fortnight, it’s pretty easy to predict what’s going to happen. Voss will be defiant and energetic, the players will say they still love him and the team will get thrashed.
Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result?
Something has to give, that’s no longer a possibility, that’s a fact.
Originally published as The tried and true Carlton narrative is playing out again after prime time embarrassment
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