Rob, it’s an exciting day at IKON Park. Tell us about the decision to appoint Josh Fraser as Senior Coach of the Carlton Football Club. 

Rob Priestley: “It’s a really exciting day for the football club. On behalf of everybody, congratulations to Josh on that appointment. Not withstanding his last 14 weeks where there’s been a lot of transformation with him as our interim coach, it was important that we thought Josh go through the detailed coaching selection panel - which he did, he passed that with flying colours. He was the standout candidate for us to appoint as the next Senior Coach of our footy club.”

What stood out to you that made Josh the right person for the job? 

Rob Priestley: “He’s very authentic, there’s a real authentic leadership style there. It was a very detailed process with a whole range of different things we were looking for: everything from him as a person, culture and character, right through clearly to football IQ, an innovative approach to the modern game, player development and education which is really important for us, how we use data, adaptability - all those kind of things, many different categories. He was excellent across all of that. Thought that process, he absolutely revealed himself as the candidate for our football club.”

Graham, it’s been an exhaustive process. What can you share with Carlton fans about the decision to appoint Josh? 

Graham Wright: “As Rob said, it was a really detailed process. Josh was the standout candidate through the process, and we put him through the exact same process as everyone else. You then combine that with the fact we’ve had a good 13-14 week period, it made him the standout candidate. Overall, it’s exciting, but now it’s time to roll the sleeves up and get to work.”

From a football standpoint, what impressed you most about Frase’s presentation and what would Carlton fans be most excited about? 

Graham Wright: “Across all the key criteria we were after or what we felt we needed for the Carlton Football Club, he was pretty clearly the standout for us. The main thing around his football IQ, his tactical development and a real Carlton fit that he was the coach that we needed and wanted to appoint.”

Rob, can you provide us some behind-the-scenes insight into how the process played out, with some very experienced football people leading the way. 

Rob Priestley: “When we set out on this journey, we wanted to differentiate this process a little bit. We kept the panel purposely small and comprised of people with deep football experience and contemporary footy insight. Graham and Chris Davies led that process, and we brought Adam Simpson in as a premiership coach and to bring us an external perspective. We put every candidate through the same process, it’s been very thorough but also very rewarding - it has led us to Josh as the standout candidate.”

He’s been involved in the game for such a long time, talk us through his coaching pedigree and credentials. 

Rob Priestley: “I think the appointment comes from what he’s done over the last 14 years. He’s done a great job for us in the last 14 weeks, but when you think about what he’s done since he stopped playing, he’s been a highly credentialed development coach, he’s been assistant coach across different programs, he’s coached his own teams which we felt was very important. That’s at the NEAFL level, VFL level and clearly now he’s had 14 weeks as the Interim Senior Coach for us. He’s had a long involvement with Carlton, he was at Carlton before he came back in the off-season last year. ‘Wrighty’ spoke about it, there’s a real Carlton alignment there.”

Graham, Josh said in the early stages of his interim role that he may not have been ready at the time to be a Senior Coach. Why do you think he is? 

Graham Wright: “I think that was a point in time, 13 or 14 weeks ago is a long time ago. Josh has been really clear that he did want to be a Senior Coach at some point in time. We went to him 2-3 weeks ago with the option of putting him into the process, and gave him a little bit of time to think about that. He came back to us really clearly that he wanted to be part of it, and we were happy to include him.”

You’ve been in the position of hiring Senior Coaches before and Josh is a first-time coach – was that a focus of yours or is that simply how the process played out? 

Graham Wright: “We weren’t encumbered in any way in relation to candidates, whether they had previous experience as Senior Coach from an AFL perspective or first-timers. We weren’t encumbered in relation to who we went after, but in the end, it landed on the five candidates we had. We had some great candidates which was great for us, and we’re pleased those guys put their hand up to coach here as well. Across that whole selection process, it was clear that Josh came out on top.”

There’s an argument that this decision has been made on the back of recent results and his win-loss record, what would you say to that? 

Graham Wright: “Even if you take the last 13 weeks out of the equation, Josh was still ahead on the process. We’re really comfortable with that.”

Rob, how much have you enjoyed seeing Carlton fans back at footy with smiles on their faces, playing a really exciting brand of football. 

Rob Priestley: “it’s been fantastic. Hearing the full force of the Carlton crowd in recent games, that Brisbane game in particular was incredible. It’s just like having a 19th player on the field for us. That connection right across the Club is really critical for us. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, and that whole-of-Club approach is really important for us as we continue to do the work and move forward.”

You’re President of the Club but you’re also a fan at your core, how do you sum up the season so far, obviously with still a bit to play out. 

Rob Priestley: “That’s the right point, there’s still a bit to play out. This is a critical announcement for us today in terms of the Senior Coach, but we’ve got a lot to play out this season. We’ve got the game against Freo on the weekend, and then we’re in the wildcard finals round: we really want to make an impact moving forward. We’re very focused on that at the moment.”

Graham, the Club has undergone significant change over the last 18 months, what do you see the next phase for the football club? 

Graham Wright: “The next few weeks are important that we don’t lose focus on the future and what we need to do. We’ve been pretty aligned, and Josh was part of that as well, that there are improvements we need to make across the board from a football department perspective and playing list perspective. We won’t lose focus on that, and we’ll make sure we’re rolling our sleeves up and getting to work on where we are right now and hopefully how we progress through this year, plus also looking into the future and next year as well.”

Obviously the big ticket item was the Senior Coach. Graham, what are the next steps from here in terms of other key roles at the football club, including the List Management position. 

Graham Wright: “We’re excited with Josh coming on board and we’ve been very clear that we want excellence across the board in our football department. That doesn’t change with list management as well. We’re really comfortable with ‘CD’ [Chris Davies] leading the list management team where they are now and leading into the draft, we’ve got some quality people in there doing some great work. We’ve got a few guys out of contract, but we’ve had no shortage of players wanting to be part of the Carlton Football Club. Hopefully there’ll be some good announcements over the next couple of months, one from a playing personnel perspective but also from a staffing perspective in our list management area.”

Rob, to close, what’s your message for Carlton supporters in what has been an exciting day for the Club, with also Member Thank You Round coming this week plus the first AFLW home game to come on Sunday?

Rob Priestley: “The way we’ve stuck together as a club through the year, we didn’t start the year as we wanted and we’ve all acknowledged that. Crowd attendances, our supporters have turned up to support our football club and our playing group. It’s tremendously powerful. A huge thank you to all of our members and everything they do for us.”