"IT WAS an extraordinary second half of the year."

There was disappointment for the Blues following an elimination final loss to the Cats, but for Carlton GM of Football Chris Davies, it came with the acknowledgement of what's been an unforgettable year at IKON Park.

Taking immediate stock of everything that's transpired, Davies spoke on SEN the day following the Blues' 2026 season came to a close.

Here's what he had to say.

On the end to the season, and the wash-up with the coach:

"It was a disappointing end, definitely. But overall, it was an extraordinary second half of the year to be honest.

"We’ll do it in a more formal setting in the coming days, but [Josh Fraser] and I were the last two there from a staff perspective last night. We spoke through some of the things we felt like we learned, some of the experiences that we had together. For him, the 14 weeks he had at the helm that gave him a further opportunity for the future, he’s definitely looking forward to that too."

On the Cody Walker conundrum:

"Some of that will be dependent on where Sydney finishes, I don’t have a firm answer now… we feel like we’ve set ourselves up as well as we possibly could, given we didn’t even know the rules at the end of last season that the AFL were going to set.

"We’ve done what we can, and we’ll wait for the end of the year for Sydney and work through what we need to do to potentially get Cody into the Club.

"I don’t think we’ll need a pick higher, but we’ll need to work through that once Sydney’s finishing position gets established. We’ve got two second-round picks, we’ve got picks in the future - there are ways we can do it, a lot will be dependent on where Sydney end up.

"We’re really well-planned to get him. I don’t know if I can answer it categorically right now, other than to say we’ve planned as well as we possibly can."

On the difference between the six-day break versus having the bye:

"We’ll never know, but ultimately we weren’t able to play the game that we’ve been pretty good at over the last period of time. The conditions probably didn’t allow us to keep the ball the way we have previously, and Geelong - being the proper team they are - took some of our strengths away from us.

"I’m not sure it was the six-day break as much as it was the conditions, and Geelong being the team they are making it hard for us. I feel like we’ve established a game plan that the players bought into in the second half of the year.

"You certainly felt like there was spirit amongst the group, which in some respects I’m most proud of. You could see that our team were playing for each other, which leading into next year is going to be an important thing to harness in the future."

On being able to adapt:

"Whether it’s the style of play or our ability to execute, we’re going to have to look at that. Playing those games at Marvel Stadium for a period, we were able to move the ball really well and efficiently. We probably haven’t done that at the MCG in the same way as we would’ve liked, both last night and against Hawthorn which were extraordinary conditions.

"I’m sure Josh will continue to work on the different ways we want to play. You can’t go into a season only thinking you’re going to play the way you want to, you’ve got to be able to come up with other ways to skin the cat.

"I’m sure we’ll be better for this experience come next year."

On rumours about Jacob Weitering's future:

"We’re not trading Jacob Weitering. I can be as categoric as I need to be here. I know it’s been a narrative for many throughout a period of time, but it hasn’t been the narrative from anyone at the Club."

What about Harry McKay? "We’ll be keeping our good players. The intent is to get better into the future."

On the Club's off-season plans:

"We’re going to be having a crack through the free agency period. It’s probably more important for us to attack the draft, but at the same time, we will look at any way in the next period of time to try and improve our list.

"We still feel like we’ve got things to work on from a list perspective. That came out last night. We’ve definitely got work to do: I don’t think anyone - whether it’s myself, Graham Wright as the CEO or Josh as the coach - were overestimating where our list is at.

"We’d like an extra key forward into the future, we definitely have to look at our next group of midfielders post-Patrick Cripps and George Hewett. Overall, I’d like some more run out of the back line.

"We’ve got some holes to fill. We’ll try and do that through the draft, we’ll try and do that through free agency and the trade period. We won’t sit on our hands, we’ll try and take the list forward."

On the Club's Head of List Management position:

"I don’t think it’s appropriate we rip someone out of a club right now. We’re fortunate we’ve probably got the best list manager of the modern era as the Club’s CEO. I’ve been around long enough to be able to influence in some way, and we’ve still got a number of people in our recruiting department who have a lot of experience.

"We’ll go through this next period with the people we’ve got, we’ll look to add the list management and maybe another recruiting function into next year. We’re comfortable with where we’re at."