Carlton’s Head of Football Vows to Keep Michael Voss as Coach Despite Struggles
Carlton’s head of football, Chris Davies, has confirmed that Michael Voss will remain as the coach for the Blues’ upcoming match against Adelaide on Thursday night. However, he has not held back in his criticism of the team’s performance, particularly their recurring issues in the second half of games.
Voss is currently under pressure after the Blues suffered a 10-point loss to North Melbourne, despite holding a 22-point lead in the final quarter. This follows a similar pattern where they lost to Melbourne after squandering a 43-point lead and were outplayed by the Swans after halftime in the opening round.
Voss, who is in his fifth year as coach and is off-contract at the end of the season, has struggled to address the second-half problems that have plagued the team since their shock loss to Richmond in round one last year.
The Blues are set to face the Crows in a Thursday night game, and Davies has assured fans that Voss will be leading the team at Gather Round.
“I can [guarantee it]. I absolutely can,” Davies said, speaking on 3AW. “From the start of the year, we are 1-3. If we are taking any positives from those three losses, [it] is we have been in positions to win those games. But, as I say, [we’re] bitterly disappointed that we haven’t been able to get the job done, certainly in the last couple of weeks.”
When asked about whether the issues stemmed from fitness, coaching, or leadership, Davies indicated there would be a thorough investigation.
“I think in these situations it’s never one thing, but it’s a mixture of [it] all,” he explained. “I guess if you are getting into the Xs and Os of the game [the tactics], we are very heavily reliant on our scores from stoppage.”
“When we don’t get that right, which has been late in the game, our scoring has dried up because we haven’t been very good from a transition offence perspective and, in reality, when the game is going against us, teams are scoring far too easily.”
Davies’ assessment was spot on, with over 60% of the Blues’ scores this season (seven goals per game) coming from stoppage – a league high. The Brisbane Lions are next best (45%). The league average is 37%.
“I don’t think it’s a fitness thing, but clearly it’s a mindset aspect to it,” Davies admitted. “We would like our players communicating better than maybe they have. I think it’s a mixture of all those things – I am not too proud to say I am willing to look into all those things.”
Davies pointed out that the players needed to communicate better when the contest was on the line.
“This is where the gap in the competition can be sometimes. You have got a relatively inexperienced team. When the pressure comes on, one of the first things that goes when your team is not going very well is communication,” he said. “If you have been watching our games, we have been scored heavily against and that’s a critical issue when those things occur.”
The Blues are ranked ninth for average age (25.8 years) and eighth for average games played (98.6). Second-half capitulations have been a theme for the past year, with the Blues letting slip nine half-time leads in this period to lose.
Voss’ gameplan has typically been based on winning contests and stoppages, but the best teams are now excellent transition sides, moving the ball slickly and hitting targets off turnover, and then folding back to defend when required. The Blues are ranked last in scores from turnover.
While Voss said on Friday he did not feel his players had been spooked in the final term against the Kangaroos, Davies’ comments suggest otherwise, as did those of Adam Simpson, the former West Coast premiership coach and now Blues consultant, who suggested the side had choked.
Davies conceded that Blues supporters were not witnessing the improvement they expected.
“I mean, unfortunately, I am not in a position, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be telling our supporters how they should feel,” Davies said. “The reality is, they should be seeing some progress on the field, and I accept right now, we haven’t been good enough to show enough of that so far this year. It doesn’t mean that we can’t get better at it, but clearly I want our group to get better at that very quickly.”
Blues president Rob Priestley and chief executive Graham Wright have said they expect the Blues to be in the running for the top 10, and Voss’ future will be determined by a range of markers. But with clashes with Adelaide, Collingwood (also on Thursday-night primetime), Fremantle, St Kilda, the Brisbane Lions and Western Bulldogs to come, the Blues could be out of the running for the top 10 by the mid-point of the season.
But former Blues co-captain Sam Docherty said it would be a mistake to sack Voss at this point of the season.
“I just don’t think you can make a move on a coach at this time of the year. I think it would be a really poor decision,” Docherty said on 3AW. “They didn’t back him in fully and give him an extension, but they backed him in to see out this year of footy.”
He said the Blues were beaten in contest and clearance, and failed to handle the pressure. Docherty also said the Blues too often opted for safe, long kicks down the line and were not “bold” – the Kangaroos booting seven goals in the final quarter after kicking just seven for the entire match to that point. The Blues managed only two goals in the final term.
Simpson, who spends a day per week working with Voss, including on how he handles his press conferences, insisted on Saturday the Blues were in a “good spot”, culture-wise. But he said the final-quarter dramas were a major issue, and he wasn’t sure whether it was a structural or talent problem.
“There’s some clear issues there, and there are clubs going through this at the moment. There’s definitely some issues to work through, and I totally understand why there would be pressure,” Simpson told SEN.
In what could be construed as a damning indictment of the Blues, Simpson said young Kangaroos midfielder George Wardlaw “was the toughest bloke on the field” on Friday.
“I just thought they [Carlton] got beaten at their own game. I thought they got beaten around the ball in the contest, and clearances were 15 to 10 in the last quarter,” Simpson said. “What I did see pretty clearly is a bit of panic, you know, with a surge kick, and it was a handball, or a kick that just got smothered, and just the inevitable sort of was happening, wasn’t it? So, a bit of mental demons that would have been running through their head no doubt after one, [Jacob] Weitering going down, and two, just the momentum shift around the contest.”
Weitering was concussed in the third term after an accidental knee to the back of the head by Zane Duursma. He spent time in hospital after the match but returned home. He will miss at least the clash against the Crows, given the concussion protocols.
The Blues’ woes don’t end there, either, with Will Hayward copping a one-match ban for striking.
Hayward hit Wardlaw across the stomach with an outstretched arm after the Roos midfielder disposed of the ball during the third quarter. The MRO graded the incident as intentional, and medium impact.
