Ahead of a highly anticipated Saturday night fixture against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, Carlton Football Club senior coach Michael Voss has added his voice to growing criticism of the Australian Football League’s (AFL) current approach to rule enforcement and in-game officiating, aligning with recent remarks from Western Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge.
Last week, Beveridge drew widespread attention when he delivered a three-minute monologue slamming the state of the modern AFL, arguing the current rule set has turned the competition into a “ping pong” style of play prioritizing broadcast revenue over natural, flowing game action. Voss, a long-time respected figure across the league, has echoed that critique, calling on the governing body to adopt clearer, less ambiguous standards for simple calls and cut back on excessive reviews by the AFL Review Centre (ARC).
Voss specifically called out inconsistencies around the new last-disposal rule for balls kicked out of bounds. Under current protocols, any close call triggers a lengthy ARC review to determine which player touched the ball last before it went out of play. Voss argued that this process directly undermines the AFL’s stated goal of speeding up match play. He insisted that for any unclear last-touch calls, the straightforward solution of a boundary throw-in should be used immediately, eliminating the 25-second delays caused by constant reviews.
“I think the less we use the ARC, the better we are,” Voss told reporters this week. “The ball goes out of bounds and it takes us 25 seconds to review. Please don’t do that. If you’re unsure, throw it in. Our intention was to quicken up the game and we’re slowing it down by continually reviewing everything. For that part, if the intention is to make the game faster, let’s go down that path, but let’s not slow it down by analysing whether the ball came off my foot or my hand. I think we can be better than that, we can be much more black and white on the simple things.”
On the topic of recent draft adjustments that force Carlton to pay a higher selection price to secure father-son recruit prospect Cody Walker at the end of the current season, Voss played down the impact of the mid-season change, acknowledging that rule and system adjustments naturally bring discomfort but that the core demand from coaching staff is simply greater clarity around the league’s decisions.
Beyond rule discussions, Voss turned his focus to Saturday’s upcoming match, which holds extra narrative weight as it marks the first time Carlton will face St Kilda following the off-season off-field player moves that saw Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni switch clubs. De Koning, who will suit up against his former side for the first time this weekend, is already expected to be a focal point of the matchup. Voss admitted that friendly banter between former teammates is likely inevitable in the lead-up, but said he expects both sides to set personal friendships aside when the ball is bounced.
“Not that I’ve heard but I am not going to pretend there probably hasn’t been a little bit of banter that’s been exchanged,” Voss said. “I am really not too sure what Cotts (Matthew Cottrell) gets up to, so he’s the quiet assassin in all of this. It’s a bit of wait and see but look, I hope for whatever it’s worth that we walk out as competitors, really. They put the friendships aside. We’ve got jobs to do and our boys have a job to do for our team and clearly they’re going to be locked in on what they need to be able to get done. But maybe turn the microphones up (because) there might be a bit of banter between the two.”
For Carlton, the match comes after a far less turbulent week than the club experienced in the previous round, with the Blues still chasing a much-needed victory to boost their position in the 2025 AFL ladder.