Former West Coast Adam Simpson has vehemently denied any interest in taking over as Carlton senior coach despite the intriguing links to the club given his consultancy role.
Simpson joined the Blues in November last year in a bid to work on development plans with the assistant coaches and Voss.
The premiership coach clarified what his role is at Ikon Park.
"I really enjoy the role. And it's not a part-time role, I'm a consultant there, and I work on development plans with the assistant coaches and Vossy," Simpson clarified on Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"I'm not part of the groupthink, so if I see something, I'll flick (Voss) a text or a bit of vision about ‘this is what I'm seeing', and I'm someone who's been there before. That's the role.
"I haven't been at the club since you guys saw me at a Geelong scratch match. So, I'm off-site a little bit; the role is the role.
"But when I went into it, I was very clear with my manager and with Graham Wright (Carlton CEO) that if I take this role, I'm not coaching Carlton. Because there's no way you can do both.
"For right now, I'm part of Michael's team. So, I'm not interested in anything other than trying to help Carlton in my very small role — which, apparently you can't have two roles; no one in the media works at footy clubs, by the way …
"This particular role, I made a really clear decision — if I ever wanted to coach Carlton, I wouldn't take this role. I'm here to try and support the current coach, not try and manipulate my way through — that would be a shocking look."
Simpson added more context around his role, but suggested that the links to the Carlton coaching job were "insulting".
"I think we've just got to be really clear about what the role is, if you're not part of the groupthink. So, what happened on Sunday night is I texted him (Voss), and we had a chat about ‘Okay, what do you reckon?'" Simpson added.
"Would you have interest in coaching Carlton?"
Premiership coach Adam Simpson explains his current job at the Blues amid some public criticism, and whether he'd be willing to take the senior role. #AFL360 pic.twitter.com/1dArDG7IwJ
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) April 1, 2026
"And we're talking through … what's going on in second halves? So, we start looking through it, and I looked at some vision yesterday and gave him a call last night to say ‘I'm seeing this', (and he says) ‘yep, that's exactly what I saw, thanks for verifying my thought'.
"So, the role is based around support, but also not being a part of the groupthink … so, that's the role, and then the actual position, it's really not part of what we're talking about."
Voss is the only AFL coach without a contract for 2026, excluding Fremantle's Justin Longmuir, who has a rolling deal.
Reports earlier this year revealed that the Blues sounded out Collingwood premiership coach Craig McRae, while his links to Carlton CEO Graham Wright, who was previously at the Pies, caused intrigue around the football landscape.
