What was behind the decision to part ways with General Manager of Football Brad Lloyd come the end of the AFL season?

It was a difficult decision, but we’ve had ongoing discussions with Brad over the last two or three months. He’s been here for seven years and given great service to the football club, but we feel like the time is right for a change in the leadership of the football department.

The announcement was made last week that your recommendation for Michael Voss to remain as AFL Senior Coach was unanimously endorsed by the Board. Can you inform Carlton fans of the reasoning that he is the right person to lead the Club?

We looked at a whole range of data and statistical information around the way we play, but also too a lot of conversations with our football staff and coaches and players as well. He’s our man for 2026, and pleasingly the Board endorsed that. Across the board, there was collective ownership around our performance: it’s players, coaches, staff - not just on one person. It was unanimous across the board that Vossy was the person for us. He’s a great leader, driving the football program in the right direction.

A big week for you: plenty has been made of the CEO transition from Brian to yourself which will be made official this year. What have you made of working alongside Brian this year?

It’s been fantastic. Brian and I have a great relationships, our wives Tracey and Clare have become friends and I regard Brian as a friend now - he’s been a great mentor to me over this period of time and taught me a lot. He’ll continue to do that, to be a resource for me over the next couple of months and I’m sure into the future, I’ll be making phone calls to Brian to bounce things off him.

You spoke a little bit last year about the CEO you wanted to be: what has the last nine months either taught you or reinforced to you about what you want to bring to the role?

They’re big roles and this is a big football club, one of the really big ones in Melbourne. It’s taught me that there’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of areas that I’ve found out a lot more about. I’ve been in Executive teams for quite some time to understand how football clubs should work, but overall I’ve learned a lot and Brian has taught me a lot over that period too.

You’ve had the last nine months to take stock on all aspects of the Carlton Football Club: what have your key observations been?

We’re in a really good place particularly financially, which is a credit to previous Boards and CEOSs. But in the end, we’re a football club and our performances on the field haven’t been good enough in 2025. We need to get better, and every decision I make from here on in will be about how we get better on the footy field and in the football department while keeping a close eye on the rest of the Club.

You’ve surely seen some of the commentary that you’re an “agent of change” - what do you make of that?

I don’t read or listen to a lot, but I have heard that - it’s a bit frustrating. I was at Hawthorn for 14 years and for the whole time ‘Clarko’ was there and wasn’t too much change, and then Nathan was out of contract when I got to Collingwood so that was a decision after 10 years of him coaching. Overall I’m not sure where the ‘agent of change’ has come from: it’s a little bit disappointing, but not much I can do about it.

How would you describe your leadership?

I think I’m a values-driven leader and that’s why Brian and I get along well, he’s very much the same and our values are very aligned. I like to think I’m honest and up front, and empathetic to people. But in the end we need to make really strong decisions about what’s best for this football club and football department, and we’ll be doing that.

Following on from this morning’s announcement, will there be more change coming to Carlton’s AFL program this off-season?

Potentially, there’s always change around players and it’s been put forward that we’ve got some coaches out of contract and we’re hoping to solidify where that sits once we get through the season. There’s always change: if you’re standing still, you’re going backwards. Exactly what that will be, that’ll be the coach and new Head of Footy once we get to that appointment.

Names have been bandied out in the media during recent weeks in regards to potential arrivals - what kind of profile of personnel is the Club looking to bring in?

We’ll look at every potential candidate as the Head of Football. We haven’t approached anyone, we’ll get through and show the due respect that Brad deserves: he’s done a good job over a long period of time through some really tough conditions. We’ll get through this next couple of weeks and look at it from there.

Will you look to people you’ve potentially had experience with in the past?

I haven’t had any contact with anyone at this stage, but we’ll be open-minded about people I may have worked with or haven’t to be honest. Our expectation will be that process kicks in once the season has finished and we’ll be going full steam ahead to land the best person we can.

Will any potential decisions be entirely at your discretion or will those calls be made in conjunction with the Head of Football once they’re appointed? 

I like to think I’m collaborative and we’ll all have a say.

It’s getting to the time of the year where conversations naturally turn to what the AFL list is going to look like in 2025 - given your history and experience, how involved will you be in the list management space? 

I’m on the list management committee, so I’ll have some involvement - but that’s Nick Austin’s area. Him and ‘Vossy’ will have a big say in what we do there: I think it’s going to be a busy off-season for us, particularly around players and how we get better. From a depth point of view, we need to add players and we’ve potentially got a father-son and a NGA player that we might look to as well. There’ll be a bit going on through the trade period and the draft.

Two players that clearly have decisions to weigh up are Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni, who both find themselves as free agents at season’s end. Do you have an update on the Club’s stance on the two of them, have deals been offered to make them stay at IKON Park? 

I don’t have an update, they’ve both had contracts in front of them for a couple of months but they’re both free agents. As free agents - I’m really strong on this - they’ve got the right to have a look, both of them are out there on the market so to speak. We certainly hope both of them stay here at Carlton, but we know the reality might be different. We’ll work through that.

There’s also been discussion about the futures of senior players - among them Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay and Sam Walsh. Will they be at Carlton in 2026? 

All required and all contracted.

The Club attacked the draft this year and we’ve seen seven AFL debutants in 2025 alone: what will the Club’s strategy be from a player acquisition standpoint come season’s end, and what profile of player is the Club going to look at? 

We’ll look at anyone that makes us better and improves our depth. One of the things that’s come out of the back half of this year with injuries to our senior players is it’s given opportunity to our younger players, and sometimes through adversity comes opportunity. A lot of those younger guys have stepped up and played some good footy: we’re hopeful they have good pre-seasons and we can improve our depth naturally through the players we’ve got, but also adding some players through this period as well.

It’s been a disappointing year for the Club, and questions have been asked from just about everywhere - whether it’s game plan, list management, injury prevention or the culture of the Club as a whole. In what areas do you think the Club can and needs to improve? 

All of the above to be honest: I think we can improve in every area. We haven’t been good enough. Our medical and conditioning team have done a good job this year on the back of a lot of soft tissues last year: we’ve had a collision injury issues this year, whether they’re knees or ankles or shoulders. They’re hard to guard against, but overall that area has done well. We need to get better in every area.

What does success look like for Carlton in 2026?

We’ve been given some pretty clear feedback - we’re 14th, and that’s not good enough. We’ll be doing everything we possibly can to get better across the board. That starts with this week: we’ve got two games to go and we’ve got to get as much as we can out of these with a clear expectation that we’re better in 2026.

Is the Club’s focus on football, first and foremost? 

Absolutely. 100 per cent. It’s a massive focus of ours to get better in football: we’ve done some things right, but can we get better across the board? Absolutely we can, and we’ll be working on that from now.

It’s probably not the way you or the entire Club envisaged or wanted 2025 to pan out from an AFL perspective… how are you going? How are you feeling ahead of the official start date come Friday, given how long of a wait it’s been? 

It feels like it’s been going for a while, rather than just kicking in on Friday. It’s been a good lead-in, I haven’t quite flown in under the radar as I would’ve liked but that’s part of the role. They’re big roles and Brian has done a great job leading this football club over the last four years: we’ll recognise him at the end of the week and then move into it on Monday.

As one season starts to come to a close, another is just about to kick off - how are things placed for our AFLW team leading into the new campaign and what have your observations been in regards to the program leading into season 10? 

I’ve been really impressed with the program: it’s been a long pre-season and they’ve been going after it for a while, but it’ll be great to kick off against the traditional rival Collingwood on Thursday night. Hopefully we get a big crowd here and our members get along. They’ve done a good job over the winter period from a training perspective: our results in our two practice matches have been encouraging, but we’ve got a fair bit to do in that program as well. Ladder position, in the men’s we’re 14th and the AFLW team was 13th, so we’ve got a bit to do in both programs but showing some good signs.