AFL 2025: Carlton coach Michael Voss responds to Tom De Koning delaying contract talks

Carlton coach Michael Voss has weighed in on star ruckman Tom De Koning delaying talks about his contract until later in the year.

Carlton coach Michael Voss says Tom De Koning is “fully invested” in the Blues despite growing speculation the star ruckman will depart the club at season’s end.

De Koning is being targeted heavily by St Kilda with a monster deal in the vicinity of $1.7 million a season.

The in-demand big man is in career-best form and has parked contract extension talks until later in the season.

Voss says the tight-knit Blues have an emphasis on staying together and sees “nothing to suggest otherwise” with De Koning.

“It’s always ongoing dialogue, clearly, he’s an important player to us, he’s in some really good form, Tom,” Voss said.

“Regardless of where we’re actually at or how it’s speculated, all I can see is what Tom is doing, he’s a very important part of our group.

“This group has a real determination to be able to stick together and I have got nothing to suggest otherwise than he’s fully invested in us – that’s all we really care about it.”

Carlton coach Michael Voss sees “nothing to suggest” star big man Tom De Koning will leave at season’s end. Picture: Michael Klein

Carlton could still pitch De Koning a deal in excess of $1 million a year but is unlikely to be able to match the Saints’ offer.

Voss says the Blues “don’t drift there” when asked: “If the money is true, what is your sell to keep (De Koning) at the club?”

“I can’t hypothetically answer that question, I can sort of only really deal with the evidence in front, we obviously state our case as anybody else who has interest and that’s sort of the nature of the business today,” Voss said.

“What we do really well is let people deal with that, he’s got his own management to deal with that, we’ve got the list manager to deal with that.

“I probably speak about this weekly and the bigger picture of things, we just don’t drift there really that much.

“We’ve always got the eye on the future but it’s very much about the here and now, so I guess the way to answer it is: get on with the job, continue to make yourself better.

“He makes us better, brings unique strengths to us and that’s all we really worry about – he’s an important member of our team and we want to get the best out of him.”

St Kilda is opening its war chest for the star ruckman. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Carlton is set to play Marc Pittonet and De Koning in the absence of Harry McKay (concussion) and Brodie Kemp (Achilles).

Voss says the ability to play one of their two rucks forward provides flexibility.

“Yeah possibly, that’s a definite option (De Koning forward), we’ve obviously settled on a few of those things without divulging too much,” he said.

“Six or seven weeks, the rucks disappeared for a few weeks because they were injured, now they’re fit and healthy so it certainly gives us options to maybe look at a few different ways to tackle that.”