Graham Wright’s CEO start date confirmed as Carlton president addresses Michael Voss’s coaching future

Carlton president Robert Priestley has confirmed the first significant domino in deciding the future direction of the club, with the CEO handover to take place on August 15 — earlier than the original plan.

Graham Wright, who masterminded Hawthorn’s premiership dynasty and oversaw Collingwood’s 2023 flag, joined the Blues late last year to replace current chief Brian Cook at the end of this season.

But Carlton’s recent struggles have shone a new light on the transition.

Wright played a key role in the Magpies’ hunt for a senior coach in 2021, when Voss was overlooked in favour of Craig McRae.

The 57-year-old will now help decide whether Voss, who is contracted until the end of 2026, is the man to lead the Blues.

Priestley said it is the “right” call for Wright to take over from Cook before the end of the season, noting the new chief is “there to support” the football department.

“We brought Graham in as a football CEO and that’s what we wanted,” he said.

“We really want to utilise his expertise, his skills, his experience, to work with our footy department and really support them through the coming weeks.

“We wanted to make sure we had that time in August 15 to be able to do that.

“There’s no doubt all Carlton people are disappointed in where we’re up to — the season hasn’t panned out so far as we’d like, there’s no doubt about that and we can’t shy away from that.

“The really important thing is we’re focused on the next eight weeks and provide all the right support to our footy department, our playing group, our coaching group to really maximise what we can get out of the next eight weeks moving into the off-season.”

Asked directly if Voss will remain coach, Priestley pointed to the existing contract for next season: “That doesn’t change”.

But while saying Voss would not be “under review” at the end of this year, he also admitted their 2025 campaign would be “assessed in its entirety” and they are prepared to “make decisions if we need to make them”.

“I think what we’re trying to do here is really focus on the next eight weeks, get us into the best possible position, addressing things we need to address,” Priestley said.

“And then that gets us into the end of the season where in a really calm and measured way we can make decisions if we need to make them now. But we’re focused on the next eight weeks and Vossy’s our coach.”

Carlton football boss Brad Lloyd has also admitted his job could be in danger.

Voss called for unity after Thursday night’s horror 50-point away loss to Port Adelaide, when the Blues kicked just one goal in the first half.

But the club’s base was tagged with graffiti calling for the club to “sack the board”.

A message “keep Voss” was spray-painted next to a demand to remove Lloyd and head of list management Nick Austin.

“There’s behaviours that can work towards getting better outcomes for the club and there are probably toxic behaviours as well that don’t help anyone,” Lloyd said.

After the heavy loss to Port, Voss said the character of his club would be exposed.

“Now, the answer starts to become about what we value,” Voss said.

“What you do find out a lot about is your character — your football team, football club, right now.

“And what connection is needed to be able to ensure that we do get that turnaround.

“There is a way we need to be as a football club — and we’re not that yet.

“There has been a lot of foundations laid on that, but clearly that hasn’t fully turned to the standard that we want nor the results that we want.”

Voss said there must be “collective accountability” for Carlton’s failings.

“There is no separating groups here,” he said.

“This is collective accountability. We’ll look at it thoroughly and see where we need to correct.”

- with AAP