Well, the last round of the home and away 2026 season has officially ended. The hopes we all had, and the club had from the start, were that we had the talent, the capacity, and the culture to take those steps and become successful after being so long in the quagmire of failure. Imagine our horror and disappointment when that did not transpire.
The countless calls from outside the club that Patrick Cripps, Jacob Weitering, Harry McKay, and even Sam Walsh had to be traded away, as they had “passed their prime”. The calls that the club was a basket case for trading out TDK, Jack Silvagni and Charlie Curnow and what we got in return would not compensate us moving forward. From the start of any season, no matter what transpires, I have always and will still always believe that a club’s success or not is determined until after the major bye round.
For Carlton, after the loss in Round 9, I think Michael Voss saw the writing on the wall: he would eventually be sacked as senior coach of the club, and so, to save face and leave with some semblance of dignity, he chose to resign.
We all thought, here we go again! Yet another misstep in the selection of a senior coach. But what no one, and I mean no one, saw was how an interim coach did what no other coach has done before. The appointment of Josh Fraser as Carlton’s interim coach is the kind of thing that happens when you believe things happen for a reason. The removal of Voss and the filling in by an untried assistant coach who believed in them showed how a group of players with nothing to lose except their own self-belief on the field can be a pivotal moment in proving everyone wrong. It should not have happened this way, but it did, and given that for the first time in the game, four teams go into a Wildcard Round where Carlton is one of them, it is a testament to what flipping the switch for Carlton happened under Josh Fraser.
The sudden calls to trade our top players have disintegrated into the smarts of how right the club was for getting rid of a few arrogant players. It allowed others less prolific to stand up and take charge of not only their fate but the club’s as well. The eventual appointment of Fraser as senior coach was a no-brainer, and his humble and quiet fortitude in taking the club to where the club sits now is nothing short of admirable and exactly what this club needs moving forward.
All of this is the flipside of what has transpired over the past week with regards to the Sydney Swans and, in particular, five senior players. I watched their game over the weekend and saw the raw emotion after the final siren. It was moving and showed that this club is in turmoil right now. Some have alluded that the five players’ suspensions were too harsh. Personally, I don’t think it is harsh enough and here’s why.
The AFL and the clubs have fought hard and steadfastly to stamp out the “boys will be boys” behaviour that used to be part and parcel of the character of AFL players. In this regard, Carlton does lead the fight with their RESPECT program. With a vibrant and growing AFLW league, every club must at all costs ensure that the AFL men’s teams do not, under any circumstances, act in a way that tarnishes what the AFL is pushing to do not only for the game, but in a way that holds a beacon of hope to the general society, by showing how mutual respect can be a catalyst for a culture that thrives both on the field and off.
We all know that our sportsmen and women are revered in a way that can sometimes lead a person to act in a way that shows the air of arrogance and self-absorbed mind of someone who thinks that a culture of decency and respect does not apply to them. The players involved at Sydney have put the entire game, and all it strove for to change the culture of a “boys-will-be-boys” mentality, into disrepute. They have sent back the AFL’s stance on respect for all, not just one or two paces, but back so far that it will take more than a few suspensions to rectify. I feel for the current Sydney players who these selfish few have betrayed, and I feel for the AFL as a community that we still have not learnt. No matter who a person is, respect is respect, and the women at the centre of this debacle deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, no matter what. A toxic attitude breeds a toxicity that should not be a part of any club. It is the same with supporters. The toxicity that exists in some supporter groups must be eradicated if this code is to stand by their slogan of respect at all levels and at all times.
The end of season 2026 will be defined by the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. It will be one where heroes became villains and a downtrodden club becomes the hero of the year, no matter where it finishes. It will be defined by the eventual outcome at the end of September, but no matter who wins, for Carlton FC 2026 has been a year that will define their future. It will be one where the issues of the past fade into the annals of history, and moving forward, it will be a different, more cohesive club and team.
I have always believed the core bones of the team are there; it just needed the right framework to show it. It needed the right designer to sketch out what the players can be capable of and to show them that you don’t need to be a “star” of the code to become a significant and vital part of a team. You need the willingness to put your own needs aside for the sake of the team. You need to show respect and foster a cohesive environment where, no matter what, every person who dons the Navy Blue is as vital as the others.
This is what Carlton has achieved this year. No matter how deep we go into the race for the ultimate prize, I, for one, am damn proud of the team, both on the field and off.
#GOBLUES!
Image courtesy of AFL & Carlton FC
SPORTZ 