Carlton coach Michael Voss said his team had already begun the process of transitioning to its next iteration with older players being phased out and replaced by their younger teammates.

It’s been a forgettable year for the Blues who have now lost seven of their last eight games to be 7-14, which is their worst record to this stage of a season since 2019, when then-coach Brendon Bolton was sacked mid-year.

But Voss got the all clear from the board late last week to see out the final season of his contract next year, at least, and he’s no wasting time expediting the development of his youngsters.

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“What our leaders have seen is an opportunity to be able to give some time to these young guys and give exposure to these guys and they deserve that opportunity. They’ve earned the right,” Voss said.

“And we need to get in behind them and support them. So we’ve seen some really good examples of that.

“Clearly our depth of our list needs to get better, if you’re talking about a bigger picture.

“And we’re going to see it through some of these guys. They’ll take positions of older players and that’s when you know you’re really progressing as a footy team.

“So we’re going to invest the time in that. We’ve been investing it over the last few weeks and growing that out, but it takes a more particular focus over this last month.”

One such player who looks set for a permanent role in the team next year and beyond is 20-year-old Cooper Lord who played a fantastic game on Saturday night against Gold Coast.

Lord registered 24 disposals (10 contested), 12 tackles and seven clearances while restricting Noah Anderson to 19 touches (seven) and three clearances, after the Suns captain had been averaging 31 disposals (13) and seven clearances this season.

“Very mature young man. There’s not a person that’s not impressed by his attitude,” Voss said of Lord.

“There’s also no one that works harder on his game. He’s under the armpit of ‘Crippa’ (Patrick Cripps) and (Sam) Walsh and (Adam) Cerra and he doesn’t leave them alone because he’s just developed that appetite to be curious.

“And every time I talk to him, he’s just enormously grateful for the opportunity that he gets, so I just asked him, ‘Just please never lose that throughout your whole career as it becomes more serious for you. Just don’t lose those attributes because it’s just such a great attribute to be able to have’. It’s a pleasure to coach that young man.”

Voss was also encouraged by the signs that young forward-ruck Hudson O’Keeffe is showing.

“He’s going to split a few (packs) over his time,” Voss said.

“He’s just tough and he competes, and you love playing with people like that.”

After trailing the Suns by eight goals in the third term at Marvel Stadium, the Blues erupted by kicking the next six majors to get within 13 points in the final quarter and give Gold Coast a big fright, before losing by 19 points.

Voss said his team would take confidence from their strong finish into the final fortnight of this season and into 2026.

“Finishing off the game the way we did too it was just nice to feel the energy of that stadium and I guess those few moments of hope that we were coming pretty fast (and) still plenty of time on the clock,” he said.

“We’re seeing the season out strong. That’s what I said we’d do.”