The brutal truth: Carlton are a club in disarray

April 25, 2026 — 3:30am

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There was some cautious optimism about the new-look Carlton Football Club one year after the previous president resigned due to a lewd photograph scandal.

Few expected senior coach Michael Voss to remain beyond this season, nor the club to play finals after three senior playing stalwarts had walked out. However, the Blues had a new chief executive, a new football boss and a transformed line-up of new assistants around the senior coach.

But losing, as they say, exposes cracks in football clubs that winning papers over. First it emerged that new chief executive Graham Wright had last year – directly or indirectly – approached Collingwood coach Craig McRae about crossing to the Blues. Then former captain Sam Docherty’s brutal assessment of the team’s repeated on-field failings was made public.

All senior coaches have mentors, but an awkward situation arose because Voss has a paid adviser, Adam Simpson, who also works as a media commentator. Simpson was forced to repeatedly assess the Blues’ late-game capitulations, week after week.

None of the above will have any bearing when Laura Kane, the AFL’s football operations and medical boss, assesses Carlton’s explanation of what took place at the MCG on April 16. Elijah Hollands, the troubled footballer delisted by a disappointed Voss last year and then picked up again after working his way back to good health and fitness, was selected to play and remained on the field for more than 60 per cent of the clash against Collingwood.

The brutal truth is that the club’s handling of Hollands, hospitalised in the days following that now infamous night, exposes the Carlton Football Club and its administration as a group in disarray. Whatever other struggles the Blues are enduring behind the scenes, and for all the lack of leadership and........

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