Michael Voss resigns as coach of Carlton Blues amid AFL club’s struggles

Updated May 12, 2026 — 10:34am,first published May 12, 2026 — 7:39am

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Michael Voss has resigned as senior coach of the Carlton Football Club.

This masthead confirmed it was a mutual decision, and that Voss made the call to step away before last Friday night’s game against Brisbane at the Gabba, an 11-point loss that was one of the Blues’ more competitive games for the season.

A meeting was scheduled for Carlton staff at 10am, where they were to be officially informed of the decision.

Voss phoned captain Patrick Cripps to tell him about his resignation before the news broke publicly.

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“He’s been a great mentor and a great coach to me,” the dual Brownlow medallist said after arriving at IKON Park. “Our relationship’s really strong and it’s all I can really say now.”

Teammate Ollie Florent said he was sad to see Voss depart.

“He’s Michael Voss, he’s led by example for so long. I’ve never had this many cameras in my face before. It’s really sad to see him go,” said Florent.

Earlier, football director and club legend Greg Williams was forced to awkwardly navigate several laps of the car-park in his club-issued Hyundai before he eventually gave up and parked around the back.

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Voss is yet to be spotted at the club on Tuesday, while CEO Graham Wright and football boss Chris Davies were in early, collecting coffee orders and banana bread just before 8am before disappearing into the bowels of the club’s administrative offices.

Carlton will play the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night, with Josh Fraser to step in as interim coach.

The Blues’ only win this season was against Richmond in round one, by four points.

They have lost seven games in a row and the pattern of giving up half-time leads proved debilitating for Carlton and for Voss. In five of their eight losses this season, they were leading at half-time.

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The club has also been engulfed by controversy over young footballer Elijah Hollands, who experienced a mental health episode on the field in round six but remained on the field until deep in the final term.

The AFL fined Carlton $75,000 over the incident but did not find any individual responsible. Voss had launched a ferocious defence of Blues staff who had been caring for Hollands.

Last season the Carlton hierarchy, led by new CEO Graham Wright, only guaranteed that Voss would coach into 2026. His contract expires at the end of this year.

Voss, the champion former Brisbane Lions player who led their dynasty in the early 2000s, took over as coach at the end of 2021 following the sacking of David Teague, beating Adam Kingsley to the position.

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The Blues famously narrowly missed the 2022 finals series by losing to Collingwood in the last round, and the following season Voss coached them to a preliminary final against Brisbane, his former club, following a massive season recovery when his position had appeared in peril.

The Blues leadership backed him strongly but from the mid-point of the 2024 season, when they were in the top four, they slumped and were unable to recapture their 2023-early ’24 peak.

Their run of hot form can be traced to half-time of the round 17 match in 2024 against Greater Western Sydney. At that point of the season they were sitting second, more than a game ahead of third place. But they gave up a lead that day to lose to the Giants, and won just 12 of their next 40 matches before the agreement was reached on Friday to end Voss’s tenure.

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Peter Ryan is a sports reporter with The Age.Connect via X or email.

Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.

Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.

Sam McClure is an award-winning AFL journalist and broadcaster.Connect via X or email.

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