{"id":839095,"date":"2026-08-02T04:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839095\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T04:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:07:11","slug":"afl-news-2026-carlton-coaching-race-ramps-up-as-greats-back-josh-fraser-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839095\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026 | Carlton coaching race ramps up as greats back Josh Fraser, comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlton<\/a> have not confirmed who will be taking the reins of the club next season, but three AFL greats are hopeful interim coach Josh Fraser will win that race. <\/p>\n

Fraser has yet to publicly declare if he will enter the race to become the club\u2019s full-time coach, despite getting Carlton back on track since taking on an interim role. <\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Josh Fraser\u2019s record as Blues interim coach is impossible to ignore.\u00a0AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Carlton have won nine of their 11 games under Fraser, who replaced Michael Voss<\/a> earlier this season. At the time of Voss\u2019 dismissal, Carlton were 1-8. <\/p>\n

And while the Blues will be looking for the best option to become the permanent coach, Matthew Lloyd<\/a> and Rory Sloane<\/a> believe the right man is already at the club. <\/p>\n

Although the star pair did not want to jump to conclusions about Fraser\u2019s credentials to be head coach too early, Sloane noted that another coach entering the club could cause more havoc for the team. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they do go for another coach, that will be their third coach in the space of one season,\u201d Sloane said on Nine\u2019s Sunday Footy Show.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had Michael Voss for the first half of the year and then Josh Fraser. Adding another game style in, I\u2019d be nervous because the players have a whole other game style they have to adjust to. That can bring elements of confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sloane did not discount that regardless of who steps into the top job at Carlton, there will be mass pressure to ensure the club gets back on the road to success. <\/p>\n

Lloyd believes that \u201cthe brand of football\u201d Fraser brings is \u201csustainable\u201d to do that. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, they look like a top-four side right now, that\u2019s how well they are playing,\u201d Lloyd added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not seen anything sustained like this [from an interim] in my time watching footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet has experienced first hand the influence of Fraser as a leader, but he refused to weigh in on whether he should stay in the role. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any answer for you,\u201d Pittonet said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told everyone it\u2019s above my pay grade. I\u2019m happy to be paid more to be in that pay grade, but until I am, I get to avoid that question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are starting to get that bang for buck, but it is (all because of) the consistent messaging from Fraser and the coaches underneath him all year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Carlton will take on St Kilda next Sunday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton have not confirmed who will be taking the reins of the club next season, but three AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-839095","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\/839095","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=839095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}