“Untenable”: The double dose that has raised pressure on Voss’ future at Carlton

Michael Voss is under pressure once again after his side's 63-point loss to the Sydney Swans in the Opening Round.

The Blues had a 26-point lead early in the third quarter, and then went on to concede 12 goals before three-quarter time.

After the huge loss to the Swans, former Hawthorn midfielder and ex-Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford believes Voss is facing new levels of pressure to begin 2026.

"There are a few reasons why Vossy might be feeling a bit flat. The loss was one thing, the third quarter was one thing on Thursday night, Sydney did a number on them," Harford said on the Six Points AFL Podcast.

"He's under enormous pressure; he's coaching for his life at the moment, he knows that the whole football world knows that."

However, Harford doesn't believe that Thursday's result is Voss's biggest issue, with speculation that a Blues staff member reached out to Craig McRae over the off-season surfacing ahead of the season opener. 

"The problem with Michael Voss at the moment wasn't with Thursday night; the problem with Michael Voss at the moment was the news through the week that someone at Carlton had approached Craig McRae," Harford said

"If you're Michael Voss, you're the coach of the team, and you've got confirmation now, effectively, that somebody within the club has gone to Craig McRae and seen if he was interested in the job, and how does that make his position feel? It's untenable, isn't it?"

The controversy didn't stop there. On Friday, former Blue and Sun Daniel Gorringe aired an audio clip of former captain Sam Docherty bagging out the club's performance, which Mark Stevens believes was the "wrong thing to do".

"From an old school journo, it's the wrong thing to do. I know he's been bagging old school journos, but it's extraordinary to replay a friend's video message over a podcast," Stevens said.

"It's interesting times at Carlton, but everything seems to be amplified at Carlton when things go wrong."

Harford believes the situation could be spun into a positive by the Blues.

"What I took out of that is if I'm Carlton, right, we've got a former captain, who's just retired, speaking passionately about the football club and the performance as all the fans. I reckon you can make that a positive," Harford said.

Docherty was set to speak at a pre-game function ahead of the Blues' game against Richmond this Thursday night, but was pulled due to Friday's incident.

"I can understand why they wouldn't want him there, whatever the function was," Harford added.

"I just think it's a bit soon, and if he gets in the room, everyone's going to be talking about just that, so I think that's not a bad play."