In his first public comments since resigning as senior coach of the Carlton Football Club, Michael Voss has laid out the chain of events and internal reflections that led him to walk away from the role, revealing that a pivotal meeting with club executives left him certain his tenure was drawing to a close.
A former champion player for the club, Voss met with Carlton CEO Graham Wright and club president Rob Priestley for an informal dinner ahead of his final game in charge. Speaking exclusively to AFL.com.au, Voss explained that the unspoken cues from that meeting made it clear his position was unstable. “I think your read in these situations is often what they don’t say, not what they do say,” Voss said. “I read enough into what they didn’t say, it was on shaky ground and the inevitable was starting to become clearer.”
Even with that clarity, the competitive instinct that defined Voss’s playing and coaching career pushed him to consider holding onto the role longer. “But the fighter in you and competitor in you wants to take it as far as you can,” he added.
It was not until last week, after reflecting on the team’s recent performance, the current state of the playing group, and the club’s long-term goals, that Voss decided to proactively advance discussions about his future. He met with his agent in Brisbane last week to formalize his choice to step down, making the call before his final scheduled match against his hometown club Brisbane Lions. Voss emphasized that he chose to decide early to avoid letting the emotion of the final game cloud his judgment.
“I didn’t want the result, whether we got the result done or we didn’t get the result done, to be the emotional or acute response to change my mind,” he explained. “Maybe if you won under those circumstances… you sort of think, ‘I’ve been swept up in that emotion and maybe I hang a little bit longer’. But I didn’t want the game to do that, if I was feeling that, which was the first time I felt that, I was getting to a point where a decision had to be made.”
After settling on his choice, Voss contacted Carlton’s general manager of football Chris Davies, who initiated the official process to confirm the departure. Rather than joining a joint press conference with club leadership on Tuesday, Voss chose to share his perspective directly with AFL.com.au. He noted that while he is at peace with his call to resign, breaking the news to the Carlton playing group remained a difficult conversation.
“I had a few days to think about it and then you get the final pieces of the puzzle but there’s one thing knowing it and another saying it,” Voss said. “Today you obviously get to say it.”