'Hollow joy': Voss opens up after Blues back coach for 2026

Michael Voss says he's received nothing but support from inside and outside the club after a horror season

Michael Voss looks on during the R21 match between Carlton and Fremantle at Optus Stadium on August 3, 2025. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

CARLTON coach Michael Voss has described the club's commitment to him for 2026 as "hollow joy", saying he's found few positives in the Blues' situation.

On Thursday, the club's president Rob Priestley emphatically backed in Voss as the side's coach following a recommendation from incoming chief executive Graham Wright that he leads the team into next year.

The recommendation was unanimously endorsed by Carlton's board following a marathon meeting on Wednesday night, with the show of support coming amid a disappointing 2025 campaign for the Blues.

Speaking on Friday after the news he would remain as coach was confirmed, Voss suggested that the decision reflected just how much improvement still lay ahead of Carlton following its 7-13 dip this season.

"It feels a little bit like hollow joy, in some ways," Voss said.

"There's no contentment in how we've found ourselves here and how it's played out, feeling like there's a contentment in being able to get that reassurance that you get to see out your contract. But there's also gratitude and a privilege to continue being able to lead this football club.

Learn More 04:46

"To be able to have that sense of direction, to be able to attack – not just this last three weeks – but what next season looks like … all I've received is tremendous amounts of support from our members and fans.

"Whether that's turning up at open training sessions and the dialogue I've had with our supporters and the reinforcement around what they love that we're doing, whether it's interaction with supporters on the streets and meeting up with them, that interaction has been hugely supportive and I really appreciate that.

"Our eyes now come firmly fixed on what we need to be able to do next. The next thing that we have in front of us is another game. What it does enable us to be able to do is, at the right time, still think about how we progress this thing and how do we improve from where we are. Clearly, we want to be better."

Carlton's decision to stick fat with Voss followed a period of uncertainty over his position at the helm, with the Blues losing six of their past seven matches to further compound a 0-4 start to the season.

But the Carlton coach dismissed suggestions the speculation over his future hadn't helped the side's on-field spiral in recent weeks.

"Where the theatre is on the outside is very, very different to what's happening on the inside," Voss said.

Learn More 25:32

"I reckon one of the key things, as a coach, is that when you come into this role you have to understand and be quite content that there's an end at some point in time. When you're content with that, you tend to focus a lot on just the way you want to do it and what's important to you and what environment you want to be able to bring.

"While that discussion goes on from the outside, that's for them to talk about. It's not for me to talk about. It's to be able to get on with the job that we've got in front of us.

"When we turned up here on Tuesday, it was about our game review and it was quite a normal day. That might surprise you. On Wednesday, we turned up and we trained. It was quite a normal day for us. Nothing really changed. That might come be quite surprising to you, but that's certainly what I felt. It was business as usual. That's what we carried on with."

Significant changes to the football department around Voss are still expected this off-season as Carlton attempts to reopen its premiership window, though the Blues coach said he hadn't yet been briefed on what that could entail.

"It hasn't been a discussion to this point in time," Voss said.

"We've all been locked in on what we need to be able to do. There might be discussions around what other people are talking about, but it's not our discussions. We anticipate that once we have the right time and we get a little bit of breathing room, we'll start to think about that a bit more. But it's not now."

Click here to read article