'The biggest task in footy' falls to one man as Carlton maps post-Voss era with 20 players facing uncertain futures

Carlton is officially in a new era, but the hard work has only just begun as they now look to find their path forward.

Coach Michael Voss resigned on Tuesday after the club's 1-8 start to the season and following four and a half years with the club.

On top of that, list boss Nick Austin also stepped down, leaving the club without a head coach, list boss or recruiting manager at this stage.

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Blues CEO Graham Wright and football boss Chris Davies now find themselves with the biggest task in footy in needing to fill these vacancies.

On top of that, Carlton has 20 players out of contract meaning there could be some significant change to player personnel as well.

Wright stated on Tuesday following the Voss ousting that the Blues wanted to add to their draft stocks as they look to refresh their list.

They currently have two first round and second round picks in the upcoming draft, and two firsts in the 2027 draft, thanks to the Charlie Curnow trade with Sydney.

They will have to navigate the accumulation of those picks with looming father-son prospect Cody Walker, a projected top five pick in the 2026 draft.

So for Wright and for Davies, the focus now turns to the path forward, while caretaker coach Josh Fraser deals with the week-to-week.

The list management plan

Carlton has 20 players out of contract at the end of the season and will likely make significant changes as they continue the list overhaul they began following the 2024 season.

The key figures of Voss' 2023 finals run will all come under the spotlight as the roles of these veterans diminish. Adam Saad, Mitch McGovern, Zach Williams, Lachie Fogarty, Nic Newman and Lewis Young are all out of contract. Adam Saad, George Hewett, Adam Cerra and Matt Cottrell have ties to the club beyond this year, but are in the same boat.

Of that group, McGovern, who was delisted and re-rookie listed following 2025, has actually been the strongest performer, playing as a key forward.

Williams has been a consistent presence in the team this year. His controversially lucrative, long-term deal comes to an end in October. Newman and Saad are running defenders in their 30s.

As Carlton looks to turn its list over to younger players across the second half of 2026, it will be interesting to see whether this core group is phased out.

They could be ruthless and cut all six of those out of contract players, though McGovern and Newman would be the frontrunners to stick around on budget-friendly deals. Fogarty and Lewis Young appear to be on the outer.

Blake Acres has spent the whole season in the VFL despite strong form. He's contracted for 2027, but a mutual parting of ways would appear to make sense for player and club.

The Blues signed Cerra to a deal through the end of 2030 at the start of 2025 and would surely already have some doubts about the viability of that contract. The midfielder looked destined for stardom in 2023 before a 12-month ongoing battle with soft tissue injuries cruelled his career.

Cerra has struggled to impact games offensively, while his defensive efforts have also been questioned. The 26-year-old is the type of talent a rival club might look at and think they can fix, however.

He and Hewett will likely be among the first Carlton players shopped in this year's trade period. Voss dropped Hewett from the senior side to rejig the midfield mix, with the reigning best and fairest winner dominating at VFL level and earning a recall in the loss to Brisbane.

The Blues will be hoping to inject Jagga Smith, Cody Walker, Cooper Lord and other young players through the midfield alongside Cripps and Walsh, and moving on from Cerra and Hewett feel like natural moves.

Among the 20 players out of contract are a group that are largely untried. Carlton should spend the second half of 2026 giving these players a chance at AFL level and seeing who sinks and who swims.

Ben and Lucas Camporeale, Billy Wilson, Flynn Young, Harry Charleson, Hudson O'Keeffe, Matt Duffy and Wade Derksen would all fit into that category.

Wilson, Young, Derksen and Ben Camporeale have all been in strong form in the VFL, but Carlton needs to know who to invest in and who to cut and that only comes from AFL opportunities.

Then you have Elijah Hollands and there's zero point speculating on his future.

Of the 20 out of contract players, only his brother Ollie Hollands would be a certainty to receive a new contract from Carlton. The fate of the other 19 remain TBD at this stage.

Who has trade value?

Wright wants more first round picks. OK, how does Carlton achieve that?

The only players on their list that likely carry the value of a first-round pick in a trade are key defender Jacob Weitering and key forward Harry McKay. Sam Walsh would as well, but he signed a long-term extension with the club only a few months ago.

Weitering has repeatedly and strongly stated he doesn't want to leave the club, while McKay is contracted until 2030.

Captain Patrick Cripps' future has been debated, but he will be 32 at the start of next season limiting his overall trade value.

The Blues could move McKay to a team willing to gamble on their ability to turn his struggles around, but that would leave them effectively devoid of key position forwards on their list following Curnow's move last year.

Wright has made brutal list calls before, doing so at Collingwood with Adam Treloar and Jack Ginnivan. Having said that, unless a team comes to the table with an offer that drops his jaw, it's hard to imagine Carlton moving any of the players above; unless Cripps himself wants to return to WA, the club would likely facilitate that for their battle-weary skipper.

If, hypothetically, a team like the Western Bulldogs or North Melbourne, who are in desperate need of a key defender, came to the Blues and offered two first round picks for Weitering, they would surely have to have that discussion.

They would need to have supreme confidence in young key defenders Harry Dean and Harry O'Farrell to move Weitering and would also need a ready-made replacement to help take pressure off the teenage pair.

Carlton's more likely plan to acquire extra picks in this year's draft will come from their existing pair of picks in 2027. They could also trade their 2028 first into this season.

That's not to say players won't be moved out for picks. As mentioned above, the likes of Hewett and Cerra will clearly be shopped around. No team is parting with a top 25 pick for either, however.

The draft plan for the Blues will likely be to leave with Cody Walker and at least one other player inside the top 18.

They have enough resources to achieve that already, particularly given they can match a bid on Walker with their pick (currently pick three) and North Melbourne's second round pick (currently 25). That gives them enough draft points to even match a bid at pick one, should the worst case scenario transpire.

Wright will certainly shop hard to add to their draft hand. Youngsters Jagga Smith, Harry Dean and Harry O'Farrell are likely the only 'untouchable' players on their list, alongside Walsh, who would be the favourite to be the next captain of the club.

Finding the next coach

Voss' exit mirrors how Wright managed Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley's exit in 2021. Moved on mid-season in the final year of his contract to allow the club a runway to finding its next leader.

The then-Pies footy boss took his time, starting with a pool of nearly 100 candidates, but had Craig McRae locked in as the club's coach by September 1, giving him time to take the reins before the trade period and draft.

Carlton will certainly follow the same blueprint, and Wright can simply run the same playbook.

What the Blues need is their McRae. A strong leader capable of handling everything that comes with being the face of being a big Victorian club. The pressure from the media, the loud, vocal supporter base and games on the big stage.

Naturally an experienced coach would be better placed to handle those things on paper, but McRae has proven more than up to the task at Collingwood, leading the team to the 2023 premiership.

People have quickly leaped to names like Ken Hinkley, Adam Simpson or John Longmire for the Blues job, but the first two aren't likely to enter the race at all due to their existing relationship with Voss, and Longmire would have to prove he has the fire in his belly to take on the complex Carlton jigsaw puzzle after stepping away as coach of Sydney at the end of 2024.

Carlton has been burnt twice this century chasing the veteran messiah coach however, with Denis Pagan and Mick Malthouse. The latter in particular leaving a hugely sour taste in the mouth of fans.

Wright has proven he is capable of identifying the next senior coaches out of the assistant ranks. He wanted Sam Mitchell initially for the Collingwood job before Hawthorn pounced to keep him within the club, and Adam Kingsley, who is now running the show capably at GWS, eventually came runner-up for the Pies job.

He would know Collingwood's Hayden Skipworth intimately from his time at the club. The 43-year-old is extremely highly rated by the Pies.

Fremantle assistant coach Jaymie Graham was among the finalists for the Collingwood job in 2021 and has been credited for helping turn the Dockers into an offensive machine across the last 18 months.

Of the assistant coaches out there, those two would seem to have the inside track should they want the gig. Geelong assistant James Kelly, St Kilda's Corey Enright, Hawthorn's Daniel Giansiracusa, Gold Coast's Shaun Grigg and Western Bulldogs' Brendon Lade will also be in the mix.

It's a strong group and Carlton needs to take their time sorting through it.

What does 2027 look like?

Removing Michael Voss is (probably) not going to be some magic tonic that suddenly has the Blues back in the finals mix next year, though many would have said the same about Simon Goodwin and Melbourne and here we are.

The Blues will continue to turn their list over to a younger core of players, overhaul their contest-and-clearance style to one more befitting the speed of the modern game and move on from veterans who aren't able to keep up.

It will be a year of transition as they get games into these younger players and build around them.

They will also be loaded with cap space, should they want to splurge in the trade or free agency space.

Carlton has been linked with Sydney key forward Joel Amartey, who has kicked 21 goals from nine games this season, but has, ironically, lost his spot as the Swans' top dog inside 50 to Curnow.

They need to add a key forward, they need speed in the midfield, they generally need better ball-users overall and they need a long-term plan in the ruck.

The whole club needs a mental reset as the weight of consistent failings dating back to the end of 2024 have snowed the players in and contributed to the 1-8 start.

Graham Wright and Chris Davies will certainly be earning their pay cheques over the next few months. They've got a lot of work to do, particularly now without a list manager in place.