With the AFL season over and a very deserved winner of the Premiership 2025, it is now time to focus on what the clubs will be doing during what will be a frantic and frenetic trade period.
I have written many times, not only this year but in previous years, that a successful club has not only a winning formula on the field but one off the field. This incorporates a level of culture, respect and integrity from everyone at the club, including supporters. It also shows that no matter how many ‘stars’ you have at your club, it makes no difference if you do not have a mentality at the club that is a team-oriented one, rather than an individual one.
In season 2025, we have seen how this plays out, especially in teams that not many (not me) believed could or would win the ultimate prize – a Premiership. If you watch the game objectively without any preconceived viewpoints or notions after the Bye period, you would see that Brisbane encompassed what it would take to once again win the final game of the season. You would see how the team is led and guided by a coach and coaching team, who understand the immense capacity of unity and what it can bring to a group of individuals, not only within the playing group but also among other coaches in the club.
This aspect has been missing from many teams, including Carlton. But right now, given the stance that the Carlton Board has now reiterated, that they are not going down the same path again as they have in previous years with previous coaches. When the Board and the CEO stated that they are not going to sack yet another coach despite the disappointing finish to the 2025 season, was, in my view, a line in the sand for the club. It was one that shows in a positive way, a direction and a change in the club’s history of knee-jerk reactions, to understand what it will take to get the club to the next level in terms of success.
So far, Carlton has seen two players sign with another club, not for any other reason (in my view), other than financial gain. To go to a club that has yet to prove a change in its culture off the field and to see the utter disparity between a few players compared to the majority is a display of why, in my view, St Kilda will not be closer to winning the ultimate prize for a long time. Sure, they may sit near the top of the bottom eight, but they will not win a Premiership anytime soon. In fact, North Melbourne and Gold Coast Suns are closer than St Kilda and even GWS.
The talk right now in the trade period for Carlton is that Charlie Curnow has stated that he wants out of Carlton. To be engraved in the history of the AFL, holding up that Premiership cup, takes a team. A team of players who play for each other and know that not one player is more important than another. If a player with another four years left on a contract wants out of a club, then that player must realize that it is not a simple case of just walking away. For Curnow to leave, it will have to involve a deal that encompasses not only high draft picks but also players. Yes players! Or a single player from a club that the club does not want to trade because of their caliber. Could it get done? Sure. Will it? Probably not, and that is something that Curnow has to come to terms with and realize that he could be part of a club that has changed their mindset in terms of what it will take to become successful. Or he could go to a club that is either a long way off from being successful or one that is far too arrogant to hold up that ultimate reward anytime soon.
Carlton has been a club that, for the past ten years or so, has lacked a clear direction on what it needs to do to become successful. It has had far too many knee-jerk reactions. Far too many egos and toxicities that include not only on the field, but also off the field. It is now time to draw a line in the sand and say to everyone, from players, to coaches, to administrators, to the support team, to supporters – all supporters, to step over the line and become a team where everyone strives to get the club back on top.
We must stop the disrespect from supporters towards players, coaches, administrators, and other supporters. We must stop the continual need for knee-jerk reactions when outcomes are not fulfilled within a timeline that others believe should be met. We have to stop realizing that even after 30 years since our last Premiership, we deserve another one without putting in the hard work from players, coaches, administrators and supporters.
The Brisbane Lions have shown what unity can do to a team. It is now time for this unity to be a part of Carlton’s DNA.
SPORTZ 