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"What do you do with their list?" | First Thoughts - Carlton and Patrick Cripps (04.05.26)
03 May 2026
Chapter 1: What are the critical challenges facing Carlton's coaching staff?
Kingy, where do your first thoughts lie this morning?
Well, I'm only going on Jay Clark's report last night that Brad Scott's next six weeks are the most critical six weeks of his coaching tenure. Two tough opponents in the next couple of weeks, and then it really opens up with four winnable games. I think they've got the West Coast, Carlton, Richmond, and possibly the Kangaroos. I could double-check that.
On the back of that and what we're seeing at Carlton, When do you know you're just killing time as a footy club and how do you handle it? I think it's one of the great problems that we have in our code is the wasting of time. I thought Melbourne's handling of the CEO last week, not our man, purge, move on, get going again, was brilliant.
And you don't have that, the long goodbye or that dead period of the season where you're just wasting games. It's going to be a very interesting and intriguing conversation. I was going to say fascinating.
Chapter 2: How can Carlton's upcoming schedule impact their performance?
Towards the back half of the year, if they've made those decisions already.
So I feel like Michael Voss is a bit more pressing than... then Brad, you may disagree with that at the moment with just the way that it is unfolding there. That's sort of the way it feels to me. And I was watching you and your comments on Saturday night as the Carlton fans streamed towards the exit.
And then you sort of said, well, when it becomes bigger than just the on-field stuff and the issues that are there for us all to see that we've all been discussing for... all of the year, when the fans start to turn and And look, maybe that happened a month ago. Maybe that happened six weeks ago at the Blues. But when the vision of them streaming out of the exits, it's awful for the club.
So when that starts to happen, then you think, okay, does the club need to act a little bit sooner? As I said two weeks ago, I wouldn't be shocked, unfortunately, whatever day it happens for Michael Voss. The broader discussion is around what do you do with their list? Like, Can they have a new coach come in like Stephen King has done and reset the place and be a lot more competitive instantly?
That's the question. So they've got pick three as it sits right now. The Kernow picks that they've got, they've also got pick 18, which they got from Sydney. This is just the way that it sits right now, and I know that that's going to change. Wiedering Crips are a large discussion around what they do. Crips looks done to me.
And I know that may just be the weight of what he's been having to deal with for a long period of time. But what do you do with their list?
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Chapter 3: What does it mean for a club to waste time in a season?
Can a new coach come in, fresh mindset, fresh attitude, some significant list changes, and then get them doing what Melbourne has done this year or not? Is it more broken than that, their list?
Well, I spoke last night. I reckon they've got the holy trinity of ineptness. They've got lack of leadership, lack of effort, lack of structure. And we showed some vision. I know you didn't get a chance. It was on late last night, first crack. I'll catch up on it today. And then I spoke about those that are responsible. I don't necessarily just hold Michael Voss to task on this.
I think their leaders get away with murder. They just ā There's always a moment in the game where you can stand up for the rot. You can stop the rot. You can actually lay a big tackle, create a physical confrontation, or you can ā a big spoil. It's usually a defensive action. Or you can do the offensive stuff, which they're pretty gifted at.
So if you can't do it with a moment, you need to do it with a positive, proactive piece of play. They don't get any of that from any of their ā Next wave of leaders. They had 13 guys that had played 100-plus games on Saturday, and not one of them did anything to shift the course of that game mid-third quarter.
If Dennis Pagan was coaching Carlton, he would have called them a bunch of wildebeests. They just gave up. They laid down and said, got me, I'm gone. And they were mauled. So I feel for Vossie. The question I had for you, the new coach walking in was my discussion last night. I'm going Malcolm Blight style.
I've seen enough of some of their players to say he's not ā I don't want him teaching Harry Dean. I don't want him teaching Jagger Smith. And then we're going to get a whole host of these new kids and they're going to be high picks.
You've had Wiedering in your sights for a couple of weeks.
I think he plays for himself. He plays selfish footy. We've highlighted this over the last couple of years. If you put him on a gun, he'll get the job done. Like, he can seriously play. But in terms of getting across and helping the others survive, there's an uncontested mark at the top of the goal square from TDK where there were six Carlton defenders, including Wiedering.
And nothing happens because everyone worries about their own backyard. I don't care if we lose. My man is not kicking a goal. And that's an awful mindset. And that's been the case for a while. I think a Malcolm Blight style, get him out, get what you can for him. I want a first rounder and a second rounder for Wiedering. Let's do the right thing by Paddy Cripps.
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Chapter 4: What should Carlton do with their current player list?
Hall of Fame, all of that, but you've played in two winning finals. And I think it's an interesting discussion.
How did he play in those finals?
He probably played, I'd have to go back and look at the numbers, but rarely did he play poorly. He doesn't have many poor games, but as a leader of this footy club, there's a lot of, I don't know, how demanding has he been on this group? I see a lot of sort of smiles with Kripp, right? I never really see him be demanding of his teammates. I never really have. I've never seen him be
not accepting of what they have delivered for so long. Now, maybe it's a situation like, maybe Dustin Martin might have been the same at Richmond, but they brought in others to help him. Maybe Carlton never supported Patrick Cripps with the defensive runners, the high half forwards. that can cover for his weaknesses and just let him be the star.
Maybe that's unfair of me to even raise that because he hasn't been helped. But it's an interesting one for his legacy because it's about winning. It's about winning finals, about winning premierships. And through the whole of his career, he's played in two winning finals.
Yeah, so you're of the belief that the team's success...
As a major... Dictates your legacy. I think so. You think it does? I think so. Like, I think it has to, doesn't it?
Gee whiz, it's going to put a line through a lot of players.
But the ones that we revere, like Dangerfield for a time there hadn't played in a grand final. He played in, I don't know, six or seven prelims. And it was always a discussion around, well, is he going to get there? How does this affect his... Like, now it's complete. No worries. But I think the players that we admire the most are those that have done it on the bigger stage...
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Chapter 5: How does leadership affect team performance at Carlton?
which others have done and we just sort of dust over that. Is he a better Carlton man for having stayed through this period or is he poorer for it?
That's the question we're asking this morning. So really aggressive Malcolm Blight style, send Cripps back home, Weider and gone.
These are the rules. This is how I'm going to coach. This is how we're going to play. If you want to talk to me about you can't live this and be this, we will organise a way to get you out of this.
Does that work anymore? Is there that style of coach anymore? So we see it's very...
very friendly it's very relationship driven it's very player driven do you think Stephen King happy for Oliver to go happy for Petrarca to go and you know what Stephen May this is not working out for either of us thanks but no thanks but they were going to keep Stephen May he wasn't going to play he wasn't part of their back six so I think he can have those honest conversations at the right time of the year and change the culture of what hasn't worked for 20 years
So is that a long mire or is that a younger coach? Like long mire, I think, could go in there and go, gee, I'm listening to this guy. When this guy talks, I'm listening. But the... The coach that's been there before sometimes doesn't have the success as a young, new coach coming in. Not to say that they always have success either, but what's the right type to get in at the Blues?
So if you're going for a job interview, this is where we're chatting off air, and you're a first-time coach and you walked into the interview and you're saying, if I tell these guys we can play finals next year... Am I more likely to get the job? Yeah. Or if I tell them, he's got to go, he's got to go, he's got to go, he's got to go.
This is the honest truth of this list, which may be in line with Graham Wright's thought process, which we have no idea on. Is that more likely to get me the job? So I'm of the belief that absolute honesty about this list is what they need. Charlie Kernow last year, who is it this year? It'll be someone. They need a kickstart.
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