Graffiti on walls at Carlton make fan frustration clear as coach Michael Voss’ future remains unclear after horror loss
Carlton supporters have painted their frustration on the walls of the club’s headquarters after another horrible performance that put coach Michael Voss in the gun.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Besieged Carlton coach Michael Voss called for unity after the lacklustre Blues slumped to a horror 50-point loss against Port Adelaide that will turn the blowtorch up on his coaching tenure with the club’s football boss “unsure” if he’ll survive into 2026.
But the supporters are already restless and have left a clear message in graffiti, with “sack the board” and “keep Voss” painted on the walls of the club’s Ikon Park headquarters on Friday morning.
As Carlton players flew back into Melbourne, cleaners were hard at work from 7am trying to remove the graffiti that showed a clear displeasure among a supporter base angry after the club slipped to a 6-9 record, with finals chances extinguished in Adelaide.
Police are also investigating the graffiti.
After landing in Melbourne football boss Brad Lloyd, who was among those the vandals wanted sacked, said he couldn’t guarantee if he or the coach would be around next year but said they would “stick at it”.
“I’m unsure of that,” he said.
“We will just stick at it and keep going to work. It’s for others to judge. We have been going at it for a little while now and we have had some good times and some down times like we are now.”
Lloyd labelled the graffiti “toxic behaviours as well that don’t help anyone” and said Voss, who was harangued by waiting media, was “going OK”.
“He is hurting with our form, but he is holding up pretty well,” he said.
“Strong man, strong leader. Wonderful person. Couldn’t speak more highly of him as a person, sa a leader. Very fortunate to be around him the way he goes about his work, we obviously haven’t got the results we would have liked but he is a good man.”.
Both teams went into the Adelaide Oval clash with just six wins and off the back of disappointing losses, but Ken Hinkley’s men responded in fine fashion to keep their slim finals hopes alive, while Voss’s charges crumbled under the pressure.
The embattled coach was asked what his message to Carlton’s frustrated fans was after the limp display.
“We’re absolutely disappointed, but the way through this is not to isolate … it’s coming together,” he replied.
“If there’s one thing I know about working through really tough times, it’s how we connect, and what we won’t do, you will not see us do, is pass blame on anyone.
“So, what we’ll do is sit here and we’ll say, ‘What’s my role in this?’ and we’ll get to work hard on that, but we need everyone on board with this, and so that’s the way we’ll approach it.
“We’ll approach that as a group of coaches, a group of players, the amazing support staff … what I feel right now as a leader is I feel really disappointed for our people.
“We feel like we’re creating a great environment, but we’re not getting the results we’re after.
“So, we’re enormously disappointed, we’re not where we want to be, but it’s time to come together, not isolate.”
With so much at stake after a week of intense criticism, the basic effort required to compete was absent from the Blues, who managed just one goal in the first half and trailed by 68 points in the final term before kicking late consolation goals.
Despite the ineptitude of the display, Voss wasn’t swayed in his belief that he is the right man for the job.
“I think when you look at a body of work, it’s going to be hard to probably understand this, but when you look at the results and the shift we’ve had in our game style this year, there’s been a genuine shift in our numbers, and in a really good way,” he said.
“We move the ball end-to-end as one of the best teams in the competition … I could rattle off a lot.
“Clearance-wise, we don’t get scored against at stoppage yet, all those things today, we weren’t able to stop.
“They scored from stoppages, we gave away marks, we couldn’t build the contest and the 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 doubt, any doubt whatsoever, about what we’re trying to create here.”
Mitch Georgiades finished with five goals and got the better of Jacob Weitering before the fullback was moved away, but Voss denied he was struggling with an ankle injury.
At the other end of the ground, Charlie Curnow was kept goalless by Esava Ratugolea, but Voss leapt to the defence of the under-fire star.
“I thought Charlie competed really hard today,” he said.
“He’s had some form struggles, and I understand that he’s probably copped some attention because of it, but I tell you what, that bloke absolutely tried his backside off today.
“I don’t think we gave him too many favours, but at the same time, that comes back to the collective stuff.
“But no, I’m not walking away from that game and saying that Charlie didn’t compete … he competed as hard as he possibly could.”
Originally published as Graffiti on walls at Carlton make fan frustration clear as coach Michael Voss’ future remains unclear after horror loss
‘Board needs to go’: Club icon’s spray
A club icon has weighed in on Carlton’s horror run, starting with the “there for themselves” board.
‘My god this is a different place’: Malthouse lifts lid on Carlton truth
Former coach Mick Malthouse says sacking Michael Voss won’t save everything at the Blues – there are bigger issues at a place he found to be ‘fundamentally different’ to anywhere else.