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The numbers behind Carlton's “average” recruitment under Voss and Austin
Jaiden Sciberras • May 13th, 2026 6:11 pm
Carlton’s next head coach will walk in on a list that is distinctly average, according to former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.
With Michael Voss stepping away from the role on Tuesday afternoon, the role at the Blues is up in the air, with Josh Fraser left to coach the side on an interim basis for the remaining 14 fixtures of the 2026 season.
Under Voss, the Blues’ list was shaped by the guidance of list manager Nick Austin, acquiring 19 new players across the five years since Voss took charge.
Austin also joined Voss in departing the club on Tuesday, leaving the club in position to start completely fresh despite their ongoing 1-8 record.
Despite the prospect of a clean slate, the incoming coach and list manager has plenty of work to do, with an underwhelming collective of players at the club’s disposal.
“It’s a very, very average list at the moment,” Hinkley told SEN Sportsday.
“It doesn’t mean it can’t change around quickly and get back to a positive list, but at the moment, it’s a very average list.
“In Vossy’s time, he only had three picks inside the top 25. In five years, he had three picks (Ollie Hollands, Jagga Smith, Harry Dean). That in itself says you can’t really get an underperforming team to a level of performance that’s not been known.
“They’ve lost a couple of players – Charlie Curnow was a big loss obviously – but then you go through the rest of the list, there’s 16 imports that they’ve brought in in that time.
“Adam Cerra, George Hewett, Lewis Young, Sam Durdin, Will Hayes, Blake Acres, Orazio Fantasia, Elijah Hollands, Frankie Evans, Nick Haynes, Ben Ainsworth, Campbell Chesser, Ollie Florent, Will Hayward, Liam Reidy and Wade Derksen.
“I know I read them out quickly… tell me there’s many superstars in that list. Bomber Thompson once said to me, ‘Someone else’s trash is not always going to be your treasure.’
“When you get a lot of these reincarnated players back onto your list, unless they are the special guys – you can actually make something of them, but you’ve got to be really targeted with the way you go about it.
“But some of these players, they don’t stack up to being a quality AFL team or an AFL player.
“Michael has done a pretty good job considering. This year, difficult. 1-8 – that was the number that was always going to be a problem. 20 debutants under Vossy in his time. Only three top 12 picks, the other 17 are 27+ and further out in the draft.
“One rookie, four mid-season draft picks, three pre-season draft picks. They are not high-quality picks, but he still debuted 20 of them. He has found a way to get some less-than-talented players to the level of AFL football.
“When you look at that list… I did my assessment (last year). I had Carlton down for three A-Graders at the start of the year, and two of them haven’t performed at A-Grade level this year, and that’s Jacob Weitering and Patrick Cripps.
“Weitering had a bad start to the year with the injury in the Origin game. Crippa has just battled, and his best game was on the weekend. They haven’t played like A-Grade players.
“That means he has had one A-Grade player on that list to perform at AFL level. That makes it pretty hard to be any more than 1-8.”
With the Blues now committed to attacking the draft with fresh minds leading the upcoming list overhaul, Hinkley believes that the club has finally admitted that the playing group isn’t up to a competitive standard.
“I would take the list management change today as an admission that the list isn’t quite where they need it to be,” Hinkley continued.
“I think that’s great. If Carlton is saying that we need to replenish or rebuild this list in some way, they are 100 per cent right.
“If they hang around in the team that they are now – and they might turn the back half of the season around and go 50/50 in their results.
“It might not be a great return for them; it might make them a little bit confused with their place in the order. I think they are a long way away from a list that is capable of challenging at the top end of the tree.
“I’m not saying that they are at the very bottom, I’m just saying they are not a challenger team to make a top four, which gives you an opportunity to make a Grand Final.”
