After the weekend, after looking at the match results and discussing this with friends, I firmly believe and stand by what I have always thought and written about. Carlton is not in the same position as it was three years, two years, or even one year ago; it is better. Many will not agree, so be it, but hear me out.
Sydney has long been touted this season as the team to be in the Grand Final. As I have stated before, its coach began coaching the club in 2011. In that time, they have won a Premiership—once. They have been in the top eight for all except two years. Again, they have won the Premiership in thirteen years—once. Yet Carlton supporters expect the team to win it in just two years since Michael Voss took over.

Geelong’s Chris Scott has been head coach since 2011. When he took over from Mark Thompson, who resigned at the end of 2010, he was gifted a playing group that he did not shape nor mould, but he was handed a playing list that did win a Premiership in 2011. It then took him until 2022, another eleven years later, to mould and develop a Premiership team. Yet Carlton supporters expect the team to win it in just two years since Michael Voss took over.

Collingwood’s Craig McCrae took over as head coach in 2022, and though he did win a Premiership in 2023, he took over when Nathan Buckley, who had been the coach in 2021 after trying to get the team to a Premiership since 2012 when he was appointed. The club did not go through five other coaches in that period that Carlton went through. Yet Carlton supporters are expecting the team to win it in just two years after a tumultuous previous eight years.
Let’s go further. Port Adelaide’s Ken Hinkley began his coaching at the club in 2013. The club was featured in the top eight at that time, but he did not take the team to a Grand Final win.  So, in that period, he has gotten the team to become successful but has not garnished for the club that ultimate prize. Yet Carlton supporters expect the team to win it in just two years since Michael Voss took over.

Then there is Justin Longmuir, coach of Fremantle. He took over in 2020. In that time in 2020 the club finished twelfth. In 2021, they finished eleventh, and in 2023, they finished fourteenth.  They had consistency in their coaching team as their previous coach, Ross Lyon, had been head coach from 2012 to 2019. In that time, he had taken the club to a Grand Final only once, his record had been that he took St Kilda to two Grand Finals, loosing both. Yet some supporters expect Carlton to win the ultimate prize in just two years since Michael Voss took over, given our tumultuous past.

The point that I am trying to make is that, yes, we have the talent. Yes, we have the ability to go all the way, but we should not be so cocky to assume that because of all of this, we should be and must be Premiership favourites, given that we have not had consistency in our coaching and, therefore, game plan.

I understand that we have been waiting a long time to come close to touching that Premiership Cup, but it will never, ever be achieved if we keep changing our coaches, believing the next one will do better. History has shown it won’t work.  You have to have consistency in the coaching group, especially the head coach, to instil in the players a belief and a culture that ensures that they will get all the support they need and facilities to ensure that each player that pulls on a Carlton top, has the tools to be a champion.
Those who call up and say that other coaches will be better than Michael Voss are, quite frankly, delusional and narrow-minded.  They don’t understand what it will take to get the club back to where it wants to be if you believe the grass is greener on the other side.

Do we want to be a club that wins one year and falters the next? Do we want to be where Collingwood is sitting now? Where the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne are sitting now? Or do we want to be where Hawthorn and Richmond were?  Alistair Clarkson, the coach of Hawthorn from 2005 until 2021, won the Premiership in 2008, 2013, 2014, and 2015. The club went from fourteenth to eleventh, fifth, and second.  Clarko was revolutionary in his mindset and began his role understanding that the club needed a sweeping change in both its playing group and its culture. His achievement in this area is one where the club rose, faltered, and then rose again for three successive years.  He understood that consistency on the field and off would be critical to achieving success.

Richmond’s Damian Hardwick was its coach from 2010 to 2023.  In that time, they won the Premiership in 2017, 2019 and 2020.  In 2010 Richmond were second bottom of the ladder. It took the club seven years to finally develop and grow enough to become Premiership winners. Hardwick was at the helm of the club for thirteen years.

In both Hawthorn and Richmond cases, the coaches understood what it would take to become a powerhouse club, yet supporters expect Carlton to become this type of club under a coach who has had to remould the club after a tumultuous time when the hiring and firing of coaches is dependant on a whim. Despite all expectations, he took the team to the finals in 2023, falling short yet seeing real growth on and off the field.

Supporters should not expect Carlton to perform differently or more so just because it is Carlton. There is a need to understand that long-term success does not just happen over a few seasons; it takes time and consistency both on and off the field. It takes maturity from its young players, and it takes more than just being a star of the game. As supporters, we need to understand this. If some out there don’t see it, that is their right. If their fickle nature means that after a few years of being a head coach of a club who does not live up to your expectations, only to get rid of them, you are free to leave. It takes courage and dedication to become a successful long-term group, and I firmly believe that we are heading in the right direction despite what others may say.

#GOBLUES!