A COMPREHENSIVE update.
GM of Football Chris Davies joined SEN Breakfast on Thursday morning, providing the latest on Carlton’s coaching process as well as looking forward to what is once again looming as a big off-season for the Blues.
Here’s what Davies had to say: watch the full interview via the player below.
On Josh Fraser, and updates on the Club’s coaching process:
“Josh has done a great job with the group since he’s come in. In the last period of time, we’ve moved into the second phase of our process, and we’ve now asked Josh to be part of that. It’s fair and reasonable to say that after 10 weeks, he has a better understanding of where he’s at.
“I’ve had a conversation throughout this week to say that we think he should put his hand up… we’ve given him the next week or so to think about that. It’ll be his decision on whether he wants to be part of it.”
On what the Club’s coaching process is looking for:
“You need to see what the person stands for, to get a sense of what it is that really underpins that they want to be as a coach. That’s a massive part of what I want to see.
“Into the future, each coach is going to have to think about how they incorporate data, analytics and AI into the future, when you consider how far coaching and technology has moved in the last couple of years.
“You’ve also got to have a clear sense of how they’re going to educate the players they’re dealing with. Players of nowadays need to be educated differently, it’s based on a heap of environmental factors - you’ve got to be open to the way people learn. In the second phase of our process, we’ve got a good sense of how a number of coaches in the competition go about it.”
On when the Club could look to make an appointment:
“I think we’re on track to have it done by the end of the minor rounds. We’ll keep working through the process diligently behind the scenes as we have been, but given we’re into the next phase of the process and there are four games to go in the minor rounds, I’d be surprised if we’re not in a position to be dealing with it before the end of that period.”
On undertaking the process while other clubs have also been on the lookout for coaches:
“I’m going to be careful in not confirming who’s in or out of our process. What I will say is ultimately, the best person for Carlton is the person who wants to do the job as well as getting through our process. I’ve got no issue with Essendon - or when Tassie were going through their stuff - or feel no pressure from anyone else going through the process at the moment.”
On who’s ahead in the Rising Star race:
“Harry Dean has just walked past my office and looking at me right now, he wouldn’t know I’m having this conversation. Harry Dean has been an amazing player coming into this competition this year, hasn’t he? He’s been phenomenal, to think of a key position player to do what he’s done.
“I think ‘Jags’ is probably edging ahead at the moment, but there’s four games to go and you never know.”
On the latest with Cody Walker:
“We let Cody go back home for his last hurrah, it was a great thing for him to be able to go back - his local club has meant a lot to him and there’s such a connection from a family perspective. Cody is going to be a great player into the future.
“He’s got to get through this next period of time heading into the draft, and we’ve got to be in the position where we can select him. If he ends up on our list, he’s going to be a fantastic player for the Carlton Football Club and have no doubt he’s going to have a great AFL career ahead of him.”
On the Club’s list management strategy come the end of the season
“We’ll be aggressive enough, when you consider our list still needs some significant work. We want to maintain our draft selections, in order to one, match a bid on Cody and two, continue to hit the draft hard. There are other mechanisms which we can use to bring players in. We’ll try and use the AFL’s free agency to bring players in, but ultimately, we want to be bringing in the right people.
“The money that the Club has got from a TPP perspective isn’t burning a hole in my pocket, we don’t feel a need to spend on players that we don’t think we’ll need just to look like we’re being active. In any trade period, you’ve got to make sure you’re balancing the idea of motion versus actually getting to where you need to.
“We won’t do anything in a frivolous nature, we’ll do it in a considered fashion - if that means bringing a player or two in via free agency or as a delisted free agent, then we’ll do that. Ultimately, we want to be hitting the draft as hard as we can.”
On the latest on the Head of List Management position:
“At the moment, that stuff has fallen back to myself and to a far lesser extent Graham Wright, given his history in that role. We’re working through that. We hope to have someone before the draft, but if we can’t have that, then we’ll have someone after that who can take the Club forward.”
