Premiership coach Adam Simpson has shed some light on the tighty sealed and secretive selection process occurring at Carlton as the club hunts its next senior coach.
There is no clear indication or leaks so far in the Carlton - or the Essendon coach selection process, which is happening concurrently as the selection committee decides on the next senior coach. Interim Josh Fraser is the leading contender after leading the Blues to a record of 10-2 since taking over from Michael Voss in the middle of the year.
Simpson, who is acting in an advisory role for the selection committee made up of CEO Graham Wright, president Rob Priestley and football manager Chris Davies, joked that journalists haven't been working hard enough to crack who will be the Blues' next senior coach.
"There hasn't been any cameras out the front of the club. Are (journalists) working as hard to break the story? They are on the phones a lot but I am not seeing feet on the pavement, I am not seeing the door stopping. Where has that gone?" Simpson joked on SEN's Crunch Time on Saturday.
"Even the people on the inside, the Tim Watson types, don't know what is going on. I think there has been a deliberate ploy to keep things in house. Managers are the last to know sort of thing.
"We are in a board room where you close the door and it becomes sound proof and the curtains come down and you come in through the back door."
The Blues and Bombers' selection processes are reported to be coming to a close, but there is no confirmation on when exactly either announcement will happen.
Fraser has emerged as the leading candidate for the Blues, given his demonstrated work while in charge of the senior side this year.
However, Simpson said Fraser's win-loss record, while not meaningless, won't be the key factor in how the Carlton selection committee decides on their next senior coach.
"The fact that when (Fraser) presented, we completely parked, to a certain degree, the wins and losses," he said.
"Now that certainly is there, so we can't shy away from it. But in terms of the presentation and how he delivered his presentation to the rest of the group was identical. Same brief, same criteria, same questioning. Yes, the wins are obviously part of the discussion, that will be worked through.
"But how they want to lead? How they develop? Their development? What's the leadership program? What's your performance mindset? How are you going to embrace the club and lead the club in the off-season? The media, the strategy, all the type of things that, you think the number one priority is the thing on the right, the wins and losses, and no doubt about it that's part of the conversation, but all the coaches presented on the same criteria.
"Whenever they decide to judge the decision, that will come out in the clear light of day, but I am assuming the same thing is happening at Essendon knowing that their elephant in the room is James Hird."
