We're only a month into the 2026 AFL season and it's already looking like being another grim one for Carton and its long-suffering fans.
It's well-documented, but in case you're unaware, there's been a distinct lack of success at Princes Park since the Blues' 61-point thrashing of the Cats in the 1995 Grand Final.
In the subsequent 29 years (not including 2026), Carlton has made the finals on 10 occasions and has not added to its premiership tally. Its win-loss finals record during this period is eight wins, 21 losses.
The Blues have made just one Grand Final since '95, that being 1999 when they lost to North Melbourne by 35 points. Carlton has played in two Preliminary Finals, four Semi Finals and two Elimination Finals.
Including the four matches the Blues have played in 2026, their win-loss record since lifting the trophy in the middle of the MCG on September 30, 1995, is 278 wins, five draws and 400 losses.
Blues fans have quite rightly had enough.
So, as we brace for another belting by Adelaide, who have had the wood on Carlton, winning 11 of the past 16 meetings by an average margin of 43 points, I've come up with seven things the Blues should do, both short and long-term, to turn the tide.
7Change the coach
Michael Voss should be sacked. It's brutal, but necessary.
Are the fans supposed to accept another failed season? Make the move now, it's already overdue.
And to those in the "You can't dismiss a coach this early in the season" corner, I would argue that this season shouldn't be looked at in isolation.
Under new chief executive Graham Wright, Carlton revamped its football department in a bid to give Voss every opportunity. The Blues poached highly respected footy boss Chris Davies from Port Adelaide to replace Brad Lloyd; development and talent manager Tom Lonergan departed, so too did assistant coach Aaron Hamill, while Aaron Greaves, the head of coaching performance and innovation, is also no longer there. Furthermore, national recruiting manager, Mick Agresta, left in February. Josh Fraser has returned as the Blues' forwards coach; Leigh Adams is working with the midfield; while Damian Truslove is the VFL coach and development coach.
Voss is one of the best players I have seen. I genuinely like him and I reckon a large contingent of Carlton fans and the broader football community feel the same. But, as we know, not all champion players make good coaches, and, sadly, I think ‘Vossy' fits that category.
Voss' position was reviewed extensively at the back-end of last season, and when he should have been shown the door, Wright and the club got spooked. Sacking coaches has become habitual at Carlton this century, and it's doubtless the Blues, while preaching stability, were worried about the optics.
What a fumble that was!
Instead of having the off-season to find the right person for the job, and then for the new coach to have an entire pre-season to train his game plan, Carlton sat on its hands, and the decision has come back to bite and bite hard.
Voss' record across stints at two clubs – Brisbane and Carlton – is 92 wins, two draws and 113 losses, and his winning strike rate is 44.93 per cent. Compare that to two of his peers with similar experience; Dogs coach Luke Beveridge is 148 wins, no draws and 109 losses (57.59 per cent), while Lions mentor Chris Fagan has 131 wins, two draws, 87 losses (60 per cent). As we know, both Beveridge and Fagan are premiership coaches, the latter a two-time flag winner.
Signed during September, 2021 on a three-year deal, Voss is into his fifth season at the helm, so it's not as if he hasn't been given a fair go. During that time, the Blues have regressed, not progressed.
