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Whateley

Every detail - Michael Voss steps down | Tom Morris (11.05.26)

12 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.094 - 13.601 Gerard Whateley

Waitley on SEN. Tom Morris broke this story first up this morning that Carlton and Michael Voss have parted ways for Alex Scott and staff to sell your livestock or sell your home. Hello, Tom.

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Chapter 2: What led to Michael Voss's departure from Carlton?

14.163 - 17.55 Gerard Whateley

G'day, Gerard. How are you this morning? Good, good. Walk us through...

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17.53 - 41.513 Tom Morris

All that we need to know. Okay. So I think we should go back a few weeks. Chris Davies, who worked with Michael Voss at Port Adelaide, has had a very open relationship, open dialogue with Michael Voss this year, an open working relationship. And the conversations weekly or regularly have been largely around the direction the team was going, how they've been playing and what the future looks like.

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41.493 - 58.356 Tom Morris

So what Carlton's leadership didn't want is for the axe to fall on Michael Voss and him to be completely blindsided by it if that's the decision that was going to be made. So Graham Wright had this same philosophy with Nathan Buckley at Collingwood, and it is the humane way to do things if you are going to move things forward this year.

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58.937 - 79.785 Tom Morris

And that's how it's been operating the last few weeks, and it became apparent last week. from a finality sense to Michael Voss, that he would not be offered a new contract for 2027. And as the ages reported as well, he made the call himself that the Brisbane game would be his final game as senior coach of Carlton.

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79.945 - 91.039 Tom Morris

And he coached that game and had an excellent third quarter, but they lost the match. And then this week has always been about getting the processes in place so that they could wrap it up as respectfully as possible.

Chapter 3: How did the relationship between Michael Voss and Chris Davies evolve?

91.319 - 110.818 Tom Morris

And you would know this, Gerard, given your history reporting coach departures, sometimes a coach leaves and people can't wait to get him out of the place. This is not Michael Vossen Carlton from a character perspective or a personal point of view. He is a much admired leader and he certainly earned a lot of fans with the way that he

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110.798 - 131.362 Tom Morris

um, spoke in his media conference a couple of weeks ago around Elijah Hollins. He was like the general with his troops behind him, but I'm not sure there's many people that believe Vos departing Carlton is the wrong call. I think that is widely accepted as the only way forward. And then, um, So what's happening today? So Michael Voss will be at the club today. He was actually at one of the St.

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131.382 - 140.156 Tom Morris

Haven gyms when the news broke this morning. He's got a saying, and Patrick Cripps has adopted it as well, to get after it. If you look it up, they say it all the time.

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Chapter 4: What were the key conversations leading up to Voss's departure?

140.176 - 158.483 Tom Morris

Just get after it. Go after it. Get after it. He was getting after it again this morning in the gym, which speaks a bit to Michael Voss. He knew he was done. He was doing weights. He'll be at the club a bit later on. It's unclear whether he will speak. But the players are going to be told shortly in person and the staff were told at 10 a.m. this morning. So that's how it's played out.

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158.983 - 174.285 Tom Morris

It's not surprising, I don't think. It's a little surprising that it's this soon. But your comparison with Leon Cameron, I think, is a fair one. Once you know, you are, I guess, beholden to make that decision. The question is, how did they not know last year?

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174.991 - 200.589 Gerard Whateley

That's a difficult question. So in what circumstances could he have won the next contract this year? None. Because the club had deliberately set up to go backwards for the long-term good. And the comparison piece with Leon Cameron, they've reached the same end point. So it was a misjudgment. The two things never lined up. And Leon's was announced and he coached a farewell game.

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201.291 - 214.819 Gerard Whateley

Michael Voss's wasn't announced. He coached his last game, but they both finished up at round nine. There's just a universal truth in this. If you don't believe in your guy, you can't just cross your fingers and close your eyes and hope that things will pan out.

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214.799 - 223.59 Tom Morris

And it was telling in the media release when they confirmed that he'd be coaching in 2026, they said Michael Voss will coach into 2026. That's deliberate wording.

223.61 - 231.42 Gerard Whateley

You can't put your coach on quicksand. And this is, I believe, the same thing with the Essendon scenario from what you told us on Crunch Note.

Chapter 5: Why was Michael Voss not offered a new contract for 2027?

231.44 - 243.895 Gerard Whateley

You cannot put your coach on quicksand. It just doesn't work. It's hard enough anyway. You have to be in absolute lockstep, and they were never in lockstep. Do you think that they –

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243.875 - 246.939 Tom Morris

searched for stability over pragmatism.

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Chapter 6: What was Michael Voss's final game like as Carlton's coach?

247.36 - 262.92 Tom Morris

So they wanted to show that they were stable. Graham Wright comes in as the CEO and says, we are a stable club. We will stand by our man, to use a famous quote from another former Carlton captain. But it was actually the wrong call at the time because realistically, they probably knew he wasn't that guy.

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263.12 - 287.075 Gerard Whateley

Yeah, so they've now failed on both fronts. We want to be stable. No, we didn't end up being stable. We were inactive when we needed to be active. It's just a – so you waste a whole year. That's what ends up happening. They've wasted the first nine rounds and then 14 weeks in caretaker mode. Like that's – A long time.

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287.355 - 292.521 Gerard Whateley

And clubs actively avoid being in caretaker mode for that long because it's counterproductive. Or it doesn't get you anywhere.

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292.701 - 300.55 Tom Morris

No. Everyone's treading water now for the next 14 weeks going, what's going to happen next year? What's Cripps going to do? What's Weteran going to do? How's it going to look? This process is going to be long and exhaustive.

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Chapter 7: How did the Carlton leadership handle Voss's exit?

301.271 - 317.707 Tom Morris

But it's like Groundhog Day, Gerard, isn't it? They're just the same thing over and over again at Carlton, deep in their DNA. They back their guy. They bring him in, they say he's going to be the saviour, and then it all falls in a heap. And we've seen it now for as long as I've been watching football, for as old as much of this playing list.

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318.268 - 328.136 Tom Morris

It's gone Ratton to Malthouse to Bolton to Teague to Vos. Each one slightly different from the last because they wanted to correct the mistakes they've made before and each one failing in its own way.

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328.156 - 338.766 Gerard Whateley

They've tried the godfather figure. They've tried the untried coach. They've tried the recycled coach. Every genre has now been played and they'll do it again for next year and beyond.

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338.746 - 357.582 Tom Morris

And that's why someone said to me this morning, well, what sort of coach will they be looking for? I would argue they just need to go to the market, as Melbourne did with Stephen King, and just find the best available. No parameters. Find the best available coach. Because what hasn't worked before in the past was they've appointed a coach counter to how it's worked. And...

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357.562 - 374.381 Tom Morris

That's been a disaster for them. So I think Graeme Wright has to be under pressure as well. The question has to be asked of Graeme Wright today at the media conference, whether by me or any other journalist, did you get it wrong extending Michael Vos into 2026? Or taking him in. Yes, taking him in. Yeah, that has to be the question.

375.583 - 392.906 Tom Morris

And you've got to feel for Vos the person, but he hasn't been the guy for a long time to be the coach. He'll have, if he wanted to, he'll have other excellent roles in football, leadership credentials, Everything that we know about Michael Voss remains to be true around the way that he can rally a group, but you need more from a senior coach in 2026. You can't just have a leader.

392.946 - 399.476 Tom Morris

How many times did Carlton supporters say, you know what, Michael Voss wasn't the right guy?

400.297 - 410.012 Gerard Whateley

Tom, you've got a big day ahead of you and what you've already done, well done. Thanks, Gerard. I appreciate it. Tom Morris, whether it's selling your livestock or selling your home, contact Alex Scott and staff today.

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