{"id":739494,"date":"2026-06-16T05:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739494\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T05:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:19:17","slug":"afl-2026-carlton-great-brendan-fevola-urges-blues-to-seek-an-experienced-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739494\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Carlton great Brendan Fevola urges Blues to seek an experienced coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former Carlton star Brendan Fevola says the Blues must pursue an experienced senior coach, but has lavished praise on caretaker Josh Fraser for implementing a more attacking game plan.<\/p>\n

The Blues\u2019 search for a new permanent coach continues, having parted ways with Michael Voss last month<\/a> after a disastrous 1-8 start to the season.<\/p>\n

\"TopTop pick: Former Carlton ace Brendan Fevola says the Blues need to target John Longmire to be their new senior coach.Sydney Morning Herald<\/p>\n

Under Fraser, the Blues have won their next four games and are within striking distance of the top 10, but Fraser has ruled himself out of contention for the top job, declaring he does not yet have the required experience.<\/p>\n

Fevola, the two-time Coleman medallist and three-time All-Australian, said former Swans\u2019 premiership coach John Longmire would be the ideal selection.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Craig<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see Adam Simpson or John Longmire down there, just for their experience over the next couple of years. With Tassie coming in [in 2028], it\u2019s going to be tough,\u201d Fevola said at the launch of the Legends Game for Prostate Cancer on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be down the bottom. We need to get up, so an experienced coach is the way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson, the former West Coast Eagles premiership coach, has ruled himself out as a candidate<\/a> at both Carlton and Essendon.<\/p>\n

But he, along with Blues\u2019 chief executive Graham Wright, football boss Chris Davies and president Rob Priestley are on the four-man selection panel to find Voss\u2019 replacement.<\/p>\n

Former club great and current board member Greg \u201cDiesel\u201d Williams is a consultant in the process, as the Blues continue to identify potential candidates.<\/p>\n

Longmire, who has a 63 per cent winning record and coached the Swans in five grand finals for four losses, is considered a prominent option for the Blues.<\/p>\n

\"BackBack in form: Carlton captain Patrick Cripps has been reborn under Josh Fraser.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel an experienced coach would be the best option, especially for a good young group. You want that older coach with a level head to get his charges in the right direction,\u201d Fevola, an assistant AFLW coach at Richmond, told this masthead.<\/p>\n

Long-time AFL assistant coaches Hayden Skipworth and Daniel Giansiracusa are also likely to be spoken to by the Blues.<\/p>\n

Fraser, a long-time VFL, development and assistant coach, has installed a more aggressive, free-flowing game plan, and has re-energised skipper Patrick Cripps, who struggled for form earlier in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Josh Fraser is doing a great job. The players are playing with more freedom. It\u2019s an attacking game \u2026 you\u2019ve got to handball the ball forward and run, and I think the boys are really adapting to that,\u201d Fevola said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur DNA has been winning it at the contest, and then you try to muscle teams, but we\u2019ve got a lot of great players who can run, so I think we\u2019ve found the inkling of success that we need. Winning footy is good footy, and we\u2019re a chance to make the top 10 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blues resume their season against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.<\/p>\n

After defeating Essendon before their mid-season bye, Fraser was again asked whether he has any interest in becoming the permanent coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big hypothetical and my answer right now would be no,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fevola had earlier this season said it was time for the Blues and Cripps to part ways. But the goal-kicking champion has now changed his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said earlier this year he needed to leave for himself, get out of there, get over to the west [Western Australia] where you\u2019re from, but these last five weeks, he\u2019s back,\u201d Fevola said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Suns<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s playing with freedom. He\u2019s carried the team on his shoulders for a long time \u2026 I just thought he was a bit stale with all the losses. But when we play well, we win, and he\u2019s our best player, so he should stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fevola will captain and Geelong great Joel Selwood coach the Victorian side for the Legends game against an All-Stars line-up at Marvel Stadium on August 27 to raise money for prostate cancer research.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-739494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739494","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=739494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}