Carlton powerbroker Bruce Mathieson says the decision to part ways with Michael Voss was the right call, and is the start of a football department and player purge the club needs if it is to emerge as an on-field power.
The departure of the 50-year-old coach was confirmed on Tuesday after just the one win in nine games this season, ending what had largely been a bruising tenure since taking charge in 2022.
In the past year, banker Robert Priestley replaced Luke Sayers as club president after a lewd-photo scandal, veteran administrator Graham Wright replaced Brian Cook as chief executive, while Chris Davies was brought in as the new football department boss.
With Voss now gone, Mathieson, the pokies king who has seen nine senior coaches (including interim coaches) depart the club this century, said more overhaul was needed.
“They did the right thing, 100 per cent, but it’s not just him [Voss], there is a lot that has got to go, a lot of changes. Unless they do a clean sweep and fix things up, nothing will change,” Mathieson said on Tuesday.
“Have a look at the recruiting, will you? Tell me, other than the young bloke [Jagga Smith], if you can’t pick in the first five and get a reasonable player, what else have we ever picked?
“It’s just terrible, absolutely terrible. You have got to look at the head first – it always stinks at the head first. Our football department is just a disgrace.”
National recruiting manager Michael Agresta left the club in February after an eight-year tenure. Mathieson said this role was the most important at the club. Nick Austin is the head of list management.
Mathieson backed Wright and Davies to make the right changes.
“Look at anything. How are we going to improve? You look at Collingwood. Does [Scott] Pendlebury improve? Do all of our older players improve? The answer is no. You have got to get younger players in who will improve and give you a chance,” Mathieson said.
“They are all great players, I am not canning them. But if you have a horse running against Winx, you not only want to catch her, you want to pass her – that’s when you win.
“You look at Brisbane. They had [several] players in their premiership side under 23. Name one good top player at Carlton who is 23 or younger. [Smith] is one … but there is a long way to go yet.”
Mathieson said the Blues needed to consider any rival offers for club leaders Patrick Cripps and Jacob Weitering, while Harry McKay, Adam Saad and Zac Williams should be moved on.
“You have got [Zac] Williams, you have got [Adam] Saad, these sort of blokes are on big money. Do you reckon they are ever going to improve? It’s just bad business,” Mathieson said.
“Harry McKay has played one good game [against Brisbane on Friday night]. They all think he is a miracle man. That’s the first good game he has played in about two years. Just can’t have that.
“But I believe he should have been a ruckman all the time. I don’t think Harry McKay can read the game at full-forward. We aren’t great deliverers of the ball, that would help a lot.
“Get him around the ground, he can run his arse off because he can mark around the ground, he is good below [his knees], he has a lot of skill, let him build, if you are going to keep him at all. I would sell him.”
Club great Anthony Koutoufides said Carlton had the playing list to have done better under Voss, who had rebuilt his coaching career after a failed stint with Brisbane.
“Vossy – he has been terrific at the club and what a wonderful man. I adore him, as a lot of people do. He got to the prelim’ final and had the toughest task to beat Brisbane up there. He did a great job Vossy,” Koutoufides told SEN.
Voss was at the helm for 103 matches, finishing with a 47.5 per cent winning record, and took the Blues into the 2023 preliminary final.
“I feel like we had the talent there. At the end of last season, we lost three key players for us [Charlie Curnow, Jack Silvagni and Tom de Koning]. So, this year is a different line-up, but I think in those few years we had the players they just couldn’t get it over the line. A few years ago, maybe 2024, they looked like they might go on to win,” Koutoufides said.
“It fell away so quickly, as fast as it came, it disappeared so fast. They had the list but … it takes so much more than good players.”
David Parkin, the three-time Blues premiership coach, was on the selection panel which handed Voss the job.
Parkin said he was “really confident” at the time Voss, a Carlton supporter as a child, was the right man for the job. But, as the years unfolded, Parkin said there was a view Voss’ “technical and tactical knowledge” became an issue.
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
