One day after receiving board backing to retain his position, Carlton coach Michael Voss has spoken of his “hollow joy” at the reassurance but maintained the situation had been overplayed externally.
Voss also bristled at persistent questioning of his game-style and his side’s shortcomings this year.
On Thursday, after a marathon five-hour board meeting on Wednesday evening, the Blues confirmed the 50-year-old would see out his contract, which runs through next year, despite the club’s issues in 2025.
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Carlton has fallen well short of expectations this year, winning just seven of 20 games following consecutive finals appearances.
But incoming chief executive Graham Wright, after carefully examining the club’s football program, endorsed Voss as Carlton’s mentor for a fifth season, with the board rubber-stamping that recommendation.
“It sort of feels a little bit like hollow joy, in some ways,” Voss told reporters on Friday morning when asked for his thoughts on the reassurance.
“There’s no contentment in how we’ve found ourselves here and how it’s played out, or feeling like there’s a contentment in being able to get that reassurance that you get to see out your contract.
“But there’s also gratitude and a privilege to be able to continue to lead this football club, and to be able to have that sense of direction, to be able to attack not just this last three weeks but what next season looks like.”
Voss was appreciative of the “tremendous support” he’d received from the club’s fans but said the focus had shifted to what comes next.
“Whether that’s turning up at open training sessions and the dialogue I’ve had with our supporters, and the reinforcement about what they love that we’re doing … that interaction has been hugely supportive, and I really appreciate that,” he said.
“Our eyes come firmly fixed on what we need to do next, and the next thing we have in front of us is another game.
“But what it does enable us to be able to do is, at the right time, be able to think about ‘how do we progress this thing?’ And ‘how do we improve from where we are?’ Because, obviously, we want to be better.”
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Pressed on how uncertain he was about his future beyond this season, Voss said the external “theatre” painted a vastly different picture to what was happening behind closed doors.
“I think where the theatre is on the outside is very, very different to what’s happening on the inside,” he said.
“While that discussion goes on on the outside, that’s for them to talk about. It’s not for me to talk about, it’s to be able to get on with the job that we’ve got in front of us.
“When we turned up here on Tuesday, it was about our game review and quite a normal day — it might surprise you. On Wednesday, we turned up and trained, it was quite a normal day for us.
“So, nothing really changed, and that might come quite surprising to you, but that’s certainly the way I felt. It was business as usual, and that’s what we carried on with.”
But while he suggested his circumstances were sensationalised, the 1996 Brownlow Medallist and former Brisbane Lions captain couldn’t deny that the cameras and people eyeing his every move was “different”.
“It was like The Truman Show there at one stage: ‘man has coffee, man drives out of Ikon Park, man turns up to training, man goes to board meeting’,” Voss joked of the ordeal.
“That was a bit strange. And to be honest, it probably did elevate it (the situation) a little bit. But again, that theatre of what was happening and what was being spoken about, five-hour board meetings and all these sorts of things — it was quite different to what it’s felt like inside.
“We’ve all sort of been waiting for that absolute sense of direction, but at the same time, now it’s made, (and) there’s an element of just continue to move forward.”
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Voss said the detail of how and when he found out from Wright that his job was safe “doesn’t really matter”.
“There’s obviously been a process been driven to arrive at that particular decision, and from mine now, it’s about eyes in and eyes forward, and that’s what we’ll so,” he said.
An optimistic Blues boss said there was still “plenty to get out of the season” for the club but bristled at persistent questioning over game-style improvements.
In particular, Voss was probed on the idea that the Blues shifted focus mid-season from correcting defensive issues to correcting ball movement issues.
“No, that’s what you said, I didn’t say that,” a testy Voss responded.
“We’re going to continue to value our defence. Where our points of improvement need to be is clearly how we finish (at the other end).
“The brand and the style will obviously be a continued discussion, and we’ll look at those at the right time — we’re constantly reviewing that — but in terms of what we want to make sure we value, that doesn’t shift too much.
“And we’ve been pretty strong on that for most of the year, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have points of improvement. And you highlighted what one of those has been, but to say that it’s been a shift of focus, that would be incorrect.”