{"id":701336,"date":"2026-05-29T03:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701336\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T03:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:20:11","slug":"afl-2026-latest-news-chris-davies-on-carlton-blues-list-calls-adam-simpson-role-in-coach-hire-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701336\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026, latest news: Chris Davies on Carlton Blues list calls, Adam Simpson role in coach hire process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlton football boss Chris Davies has defended Adam Simpson\u2019s role as one of the four selectors<\/a> set to collectively hand-pick the club\u2019s next senior coach. <\/p>\n

It comes as Davies also made an admission around the Blues\u2019 list, while giving a cagey response around its openness to trade big names again this year. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

West Coast premiership coach Simpson was confirmed on Thursday as one of four names set to work towards deciding on the Blues\u2019 next coach hire<\/a>, alongside Davies, Graham Wright and Rob Priestley. <\/p>\n

The call raised a few eyebrows, given Simpson – now a leading media figure after exiting as Eagles coach in 2024 – is predicted by some to put his hand up for a head-coaching gig in the future, with Essendon and Tasmania also with vacancies. <\/p>\n

Davies was asked by dual premiership player David King on SEN Breakfast whether unsuccessful Carlton candidates might feel uncomfortable presenting to Simpson, given the ex-mentor could be competing with them for future positions on offer at other clubs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a reasonable position to have – it\u2019ll be something that we\u2019re going to have to manage into the future,\u201d Davies said on Friday morning. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think most people right now are seeing Adam Simpson as the media person who is a very good media person, and will have a career in media for as long as he wants to. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not too much of Adam right now that is suggesting that he wants to get back into coaching – but at the same time, people have conflicts all throughout the AFL, don\u2019t they? <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it\u2019s not something that we\u2019re fussed about at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell furious over Watson decision | 10:02<\/p>\n

The Blues have won their first two games under interim coach Josh Fraser after parting ways with Michael Voss early in the month, but it hasn\u2019t shielded Davies to the reality the club faces at year\u2019s end. <\/p>\n

Quizzed on Carlton\u2019s list timeline as it prepares to present to prospective coaches, Davies said that while he wasn\u2019t willing to \u201cput a ceiling\u201d on its potential, there are still necessary changes to be made. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I think that our list is more balanced than it was last year, I still don\u2019t think the list is good enough, ultimately, to compete at the top level,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re going to have to do some work on that over the next period of time. We started that last year with trading out the players that we did, or letting them go in free agency. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well-placed from a draft capital standpoint to get Cody Walker in, and do some other things into the future, but I want to make sure that we\u2019re bringing in some young talent which is going to be required for us to be a sustainable force up the top end of the ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushed on the idea that those comments meant there could again be big Blues names on the table come October, Davies said: \u201cI don\u2019t think you have to read into that (idea that) everyone\u2019s available. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still firmly believe that your club, in these situations, you have to have good senior players who are mentoring the younger blokes, showing them the way to go about their footy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t subscribe to the theory that everyone is up for grabs. I certainly think that you\u2019ve got to have a strong nucleus of people who are going to be good people at your club, and show the young players how to go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But probed on whether it was a \u2018flat-out no\u2019 to the possibility of trading a big name such as Patrick Cripps or Jacob Weitering, Davies didn\u2019t shut down the possibility, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t need to go into it any deeper than the fact that I think it\u2019s really important that we\u2019ve got quality senior players at our club into the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people you\u2019ve just mentioned – Patrick, Jacob – you wouldn\u2019t meet two more committed Carlton people. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to definitely think about how we balance our team \u2026 I also accept that the transition game is something that the club needs to continue to be good at into the future, and part of that is a personnel discussion, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton football boss Chris Davies has defended Adam Simpson\u2019s role as one of the four selectors set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1146,64,63,689,341542,3239,3464,78976,341545,31208,1653,341012,1818,341543,170319,341008,2105,25532,6086,3231,12149,681,168801,341539,341540,647,3257,50271,3530,677,7800,668,341541,28008,12936,19093,22401,17989,85,341544,163960,660,19054],"class_list":["post-701336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adam-simpson","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-cagey-response","tag-carlton-blues","tag-chelsea-football-club","tag-chris-davies","tag-club-faces","tag-club-needs","tag-cody-walker","tag-contentious-umpire","tag-david-king","tag-draft-capital-standpoint","tag-dual-premiership-player","tag-game-shed-chat","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-graham-wright","tag-interim-coach","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jason-dunstall","tag-jon-ralph","tag-josh-fraser","tag-key-list-admission","tag-media-person","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-voss","tag-names-set","tag-nick-watson","tag-oceania","tag-patrick-cripps","tag-press-conference","tag-quality-senior-players","tag-quinn-rooney","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-sarah-jones","tag-senior-coach","tag-senior-players","tag-sports","tag-trade-door","tag-transition-game","tag-victoria","tag-young-talent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}