Carlton coach latest: David Teague responds to football review, Ross Lyon links

Carlton coach David Teague believes the Blues’ hierarchy would admit they failed to “nail” the review process as he reaffirmed his belief he was the best man for the job.

Carlton coach David Teague speaks with debutant Corey Durdin before the weekend’s ill-fated clash with Port Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

Carlton coach David Teague says he is still waiting for an indication about his future by the Blues hierarchy, conceding he has felt let down by the lack of support from the club.

As he responded to former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon declaring his interest in the Carlton job if the club parted with Teague, the beleaguered Blues coach said he was still planning as if he would be the senior coach next year.

Teague said he had not yet been privy to any of the findings of the club’s external football department review, which have been tabled to the club’s board.

While Teague said he understood the reasons behind the club’s review, he said he would have liked more support from the club, which had not “nailed” the process.

“I understand the review process and not the commentary,” Teague said.

“Would I have loved for some people at the club from within the club to have come out and backed me up? Absolutely, I’m not going to lie.

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David Teague says he would have liked more support from Carlton.

“I love this footy club. I understand the why, but have we nailed the process? I don’t think so, I think that’s clear. I think everyone would put their hand up to that.

“But in terms of the why, the desire is to get the Carlton footy club back to being a really good team and I want that, I desperately want that. I want to be part of it, I believe I can be part of it.”

As speculation about Teague’s future heightens ahead of the final round, Lyon declared that he would “certainly take the call and consider” the Blues coaching job if it was open, but Teague said he remained contracted as coach for next year.

Teague remained adamant he was the right person to take the club forward.

“I’m contracted for 2022, so I am planning for that,” Teague said on Thursday.

“I still believe I am the person to go forward, so unless he knows something that I don’t know then I’m going to continue to plan to be the coach next year.“

Teague said he had not yet been given an indication about his future by the club.

“Not really, no. I am focusing on this game and preparing for GWS this weekend and giving the players the best opportunity to learn,” Teague said.

“I have had some communication with (new president) Luke (Sayers) along the way, not so much on the findings of the review but more so around other areas and why, probably a little bit more around the why of the review.

“I haven’t been giving the findings yet. At this stage, I think it’s just gone to the board and maybe the CEO at this stage as well.

“They are deliberating on those findings right now and making sense of them and probably from there some decisions will be made or not probably, there will be some decisions made from there and I look forward to those findings.

“We started this review in a manner to learn and get better and that’s what I want to do, I want to continue taking this club forward and improving and growing.”

Carlton coach David Teague speaks with debutant Corey Durdin before the weekend’s ill-fated clash with Port Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

Teague said last week the club’s mid-season review had led to a psychologically unsafe workplace and he conceded the “noise” about his future had been challenging.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s a real challenge at the moment the environment we are in,” Teague said.

“It is hard, the constant noise in the background, but that’s part of the industry.

“We keep coming back to what we can control, what we can focus on and I still believe that from a performance point of view from the football department, everyone is doing a great job.”

In just his second full season in charge, Teague has steered the 13th-placed Blues to eight wins so far in 2021 – one more than last year – as the team has again missed out on finals action.

Originally published as Carlton coach latest: David Teague responds to football review, Ross Lyon links