First off, how have you found the first six months in the new role?

It's been great. It’s been busy, really busy - a busy off-season with a lot of changes from a team perspective and a football department perspective, but also too, we've had our women's team make the finals and get through to a prelim. There was a lot of footy still being played at the back end of last year, so from that perspective, it's been busy.

We've seen a lot of movement in the AFL footy department in the offseason, with new players and a brand new coaching department. How have you observed those in the early going?

We haven't won or lost a game at this stage, so it's always positive! The changes, I think we had six coaches overall and 11 players, obviously a new Head of Football. There's been a lot of changes from a holistic point of view from a men's football department perspective, and we're really comfortable where that's tracking and going. Those guys have come in and hit the ground running with new ideas, new IP, and then the players as well have appeared to have really responded to that. It's been very different and as you would have seen out of our game on on Wednesday night, we look different and playing a bit differently as well with with some different personnel.

You did touch back down from Brisbane yesterday. What did you make of that match simulation hitout?

As with all match simulation or practice games, there's always some good and bad. I thought there was probably more positives than negatives which was great, certainly personnel-wise and team-wise. We look like we gelled pretty well together after a shaky first quarter where a team like Brisbane make you pay if you if you make mistakes, and we made a few of those early. That continued through the game - it's an imperfect game, so you're always going to have mistakes. It’s how you bounce back from those and learn from them. And overall, I thought there was some positive stuff for us.

You did mention it is only February, but as a byproduct of those new players and coaches, it’s fair to say we'll have a different looking side this year.

Yeah, we will. Potentially anywhere from six to 10 changes to the team that played against Essendon in the last round last year through to Opening Round against Sydney. That’s exciting, but how they gel together and work as a team is going to be the interesting part. There's some excitement there, probably a bit of trepidation as well about what it looks like and how long it takes us to gel.

It is less than two weeks now until the Club takes part in another AFL season open up. What is the general vibe around that Sydney clash on 5 March?

Everyone’s really looking forward to it. And we knew last year, after Charlie departed, that there was a potential for that being an early season game… little did we know it was going to be the opening game of the season. But I think that's exciting all our members and supporters too: a new-look team opening up the season against Sydney, we haven't won in Sydney for a long period of time, so we're really looking forward to the contest.

It was the first match for the wider group on Wednesday night, but Patrick Cripps and Jacob Weitering took part in State of Origin last week. A quick word on the concept and what you made of the game as a whole.

It was an exciting game, to see the best players in the competition particularly for those two states playing in an early season game, a really quick game in Perth, hot weather, looks like the ball pinged around a fair bit. We're a supporter of it. It was great to see State of Origin come back, having not been played for such a long period of time. A little bit of heart-in-mouth when Jacob went down in the first quarter, but pleasingly, he seems like he's bounced out of that okay and hopefully are available for Opening Round as well.

We're pretty fortunate to have some blockbusters early in the season once again, home games against Richmond and Collingwood inside the opening six rounds. How exciting and important is it for the Club?

Yeah, absolutely exciting. Exciting for the club to play Richmond, Collingwood and Melbourne, those three games at the MCG in the first six rounds. We've got Gather Round in the middle of that, that's exciting for our members to have big blockbuster games at the MCG against traditional rivals. We’re certainly hopeful that we do well in them.

So much talk already heading into this season about two people out of contract leading into 2026 - we'll start with the coach. Where do things sit and what conversations have been had with Michael Voss about what the year will look like?

There’s been ongoing conversations from the back end of last year that everyone's aware of. As I said, we're really aligned with where we see it. The biggest focus for us is on the change around the football club. As I said before, 11 new players, six new coaches, how they're gelling together, our environment overall - and it's getting better every day. That'll play out over a period of time, but we're really comfortable with where it sits.

The other one is Sam Walsh, with media reports last week saying he could be close to committing his long-term future to the footy club. Can you provide Carlton fans with an update on where that stands, and are you happy with how those conversations are tracking?

Yeah, we are. I think Sam wants to be here, which is first and foremost the most important thing, and we really want him to stay. So you should be able to find a middle ground there where everyone's comfortable. But as I said, there’s ongoing conversations with his management around what that looks like, and Sam. Pleasingly, I think we're heading in the right direction. But as I said at the AGM as well, until people sign, you never quite know and things can go in different ways. But we're excited and hopeful that that happens sooner rather than later.

We've heard players, coaches, staff and even fans speak about the energy shift around the club over the off-season. I'm sure the IKON Park environment is something that's front of mind for you as CEO, what have you made of that shift over the summer.

It's been exciting. Whenever you have a number of players leave your club, and then you have others come into your club, but also new personnel and coaches and players and staff and admin staff… you always get change at a footy club, that's inevitable. And I've been really excited by that. I feel that it's been really positive, and culturally I think it’s been a real positive as well. I think the football department and the locker room is in a really good place, and the guys are enjoying to come to work every day and getting to work. From that perspective, we're excited, and maybe off the back of even our AFLW team at the back end of last year, that real exciting, fun environment that that hopefully bodes well for a good season for our men’s.

What's your approach to balancing supporting people in that enjoyment while also maintaining accountability and high performance across all areas?

Accountability is just part of any business, really. But from a football perspective and a business perspective, we have to have KPIs around what we do and be accountable for what we do. But you want to have fun coming to work and football clubs invariably are a hell of a lot more fun when you're winning than losing. So we're hopeful that we're winning more games than we're losing. And as I said, we've got that good fun environment. But the other part is that you want to come in on a Monday really level and not knowing whether we won or lost, and having a place where people aren't walking around on eggshells, enjoying themselves and having fun at the footy club.

When you mention those KPIs, can you give some insight into what those might be leading into 2026?

No, not really! When I say KPIs, the football department have KPIs over a whole range of things that they do, and that can be training, it can be in-game. Whether it be inside 50s, whether it be contested ball, clearances, a whole range of different KPIs that they'll look at, and that's obviously for the coaches to determine. But those things don't rely on the result: the result is more relying on can they hit their KPIs during the game.

This pre-season has seen a big increase in open training sessions just about every week at IKON park since the end of last year. How promising has that been for you? And will that continue during the season?

Yeah, it'll continue, absolutely. We've had good conversations with our football department. I think the one thing that we get the advantage of doing is not having people in, which a lot of other clubs don't get: they're open to the public all the time because of where they're situated, and their ground is open, whereas we can shut the doors if the guys want to practice something different or try something different that they haven't in a game perspective. But primarily, we want to make sure that we're open every week and our members and supporters can come in and watch us train and connect with the Club and with the players.

Another great day was a fortnight ago where over 1,600 people came along to the Run for Respect. What does that event and the Carlton Respects initiative mean to the footy club?

It's our number one thing that we do from a community perspective, how we lean into Carlton Respects. We have our game during the year with our men's and women's team, it's an enormous community aspect of what we do and our social aspect of what we do and such an important program from a club perspective, but a wider community perspective as well. Having 1,600 people here was fantastic, and we're hoping to grow that into into more next year. I know a lot of funds were raised from a charity perspective as well. We had 25 or 26 of our men players here and a number of our women's players here as well. That was great - they're coming along and giving their time, they're not getting AFL hours or they're not being sponsored to be here. They want to be here which is great.

When will things pick up for the AFLW team after that busy end to the season, and what can fans look forward to with a few new recruits as well?

Well, today - 20 February - is  their blackout day, where they can officially come in from now which is great. A number of the girls have been through and in training already. We're really excited with the changes that we made off the back end of last season, I feel that the group have really traded well. We've done well in the draft, and we should be looking for an exciting 2026 as well. But as I said, the girls will be a big part of what we're doing over this period until their games start in late July, early August.

You touched on this before, but is it fair to say the AFL program have looked to continue that infectious energy that began with the AFLW team at the end of 2025?

Yeah, we hope so. I think it goes hand in hand that you want to have fun, but you want to win. But off the back of last year, I thought our girls were really exciting and having fun. I've seen that before in football clubs, where if you are having fun and you're enjoying what you're doing, in a lot of cases your performance really rolls along with that as well. We're hopeful of that in our men's program.

Did you join in with the line dancing and The Veronicas with the AFLW group at any point?

That's where I drew the line, right there! No line dancing for me, that would get pretty ugly.

The club did undertake a significant project last year with the launch of the Imaging Centre downstairs, which is a key revenue stream for the Club over the coming years. Are there any other significant projects off the field that we'll look to undertake this year?

No, not at this stage. Opening that has been significant for us, it opened in June last year and already it’s ahead of budget projections from that perspective. We're really happy with the way that's going, a joint venture with Imaging Associates which has been fantastic. It’s been great for our players. Any of our players - men's, women’s, staff - have been able to able to go in there and have scans or X rays or whatever is required, and you get real-time results without actually having to leave the facility. But the bigger picture is from a community perspective, that it's available to all doctors and patients around our area and beyond that as well. It's been fantastic for us.

You mentioned at the AGM that the new department was created at the club shortly after you began, that specialises in data, tech and AI. Can you go into any further detail about that?

It’s an area I think all clubs are pushing into quite heavily, and ours has been no different from that perspective. Creating a department that basically has a focus on on everything we're doing from our data, tech, privacy and AI, is hugely important for us. Bringing in Anthony Stoitsis who heads up that department, he's been great and has hit the ground running. He'll also have an involvement with our football program as well, having come through from a footy background, so he's up to speed with the latest and greatest of what you need in those areas as well. But we all know that's advancing at a very quick rate, so it’s how we keep our foot on the throttle there, and how do we get up to speed and get better in all those areas.

There wouldn't be a day that goes by without you discussing the Club with a member in some way, shape or form: what has been the main theme of your conversations with Carlton people over the last six or 12 months?

Probably just the change, there's been a lot of change - and that's me as well coming into the role, and Chris Davies and the change over in relation to players and coaches and what it'll look like. I think everyone's genuinely excited that we've got some good stuff ahead of us. But as I said before, does that take a little bit of time to gel and what does that look like? I think members and supporters have been pretty positive.

There will be some Carlton fans watching this who haven't yet quite signed up as a member for 2026. Why should they?

As I said, I think you're going to see some exciting footy and some different footy to what we've probably played previously, where we move the ball quicker, we've got new talent in different areas. A number of young players coming through - your Cooper Lords, hopefully we get Jagga Smith into the team, and Harry Dean from a father-son perspective. Some young players coming through and we're excited about their development, where they can get to. But also too, we've got a lot of high-quality players, whether it be Walshy, Crippa, Weiters, these sort of guys that have been outstanding players for us and are still in the primes of their career. I'd get on board and encourage everyone to be a part of it.

You mentioned that game style and game plan, has that been a conscious effort from the footy department about kind of injecting that new look and exciting feel into the way we play?

Yeah, I think so. It comes with personnel. The change in personnel means that you can play a bit differently, and also new IP from the coaches that have come in from other clubs about the way the game's moving, the way the game's changed and bringing us forward on that journey. It comes with personnel, IP, coaching changes, the whole lot as to the way we want to play. That's been really with them, not me obviously, but I've been excited by what I've seen.

I know you've observed Carlton for a long time. The club recently launched it's Like No Other membership campaign: with your lived experience, is that very much the case of this footy club?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it is Like No Other. And there's so much that you've seen in the branding of that, we resonate with a whole range of different people and different diversities across the country, not just here in Carlton. It's exciting from the perspective of what we bring and what we do.

Two last ones to finish up. On and off the field, what does Carlton look like when it's at its very best?

I think when it's united and it's aligned, and it's everyone going in the same direction. We want people to be pulling for us to do well, and getting behind us when it's not quite going well. So I'd say united. Obviously it's one of our values,and one of the ones we hold dear.

What does success look like for Carlton in 2026?

That's a good question. I think more wins than losses and a brand of footy that people like watching, young players coming into the team, new players coming into the team that are providing a level of enjoyment from our members' perspective.