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“If the place is that broken…”: Should Carlton reset and start again?
Jack Elliott • October 7th, 2025 9:07 am
Kane Cornes believes a complete reset should be on the cards at Carlton this off-season as the club looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2025.
This comes off the back of Michael Voss’ speech at Carlton’s best and fairest awards on Sunday night, where the Blues coach sounded somewhat defeated.
Voss conceded that a heavy late-season loss to Collingwood was a moment that resonated with him, suggesting there is a lot of work to do.
“Driving home, I was left with my thoughts … it was the most humbling moment of my career,” Voss said.
“Not just reflecting on the loss, but the heaviness we all carry.
“Together, inside the locker room, and outside in the stands, we as a club have culturally defeated ourselves.
“I could tell you what you’d like to hear tonight, but tonight is (about) what we all need to hear.
“Right now, we are not a very resilient football club.
“This club is powerful if we choose it to be, but the fight must be out there, not in here.
“My greatest lesson is this: chasing excellence can’t come at the expense of enjoying the journey.”
After missing out on finals and with star forward Charlie Curnow rumoured to be seeking an exit, Cornes has flagged a “mini reset” for the Blues in their quest to return to contention.
Cornes noted Melbourne under new coach Steven King as the blueprint that Carlton could follow. The Demons have been active with their list as they enter a rebuild.
“My instant thought was, did Carlton need to do what Melbourne did?” Cornes told AFL Trade Radio.
“If the place is that broken, where the coach is pretty much saying that the culture is broken, players lack resilience… do they need to reset and start again? They haven’t chosen to do that.
“I’m a Michael Voss supporter, I like the speech, I thought he hit it where he needed to hit it, but what comes with that is that he is going to back this group in again.
“Did they need to take that decision out and reset the whole of the footy club? New coach comes in, clean out the playing list like Melbourne are trying to do, and start a mini reset at that footy club with some younger leaders in place.
“That was my instant thought. I’d be interested in the Blues’ fans thoughts on that.
“They’re going to go again and wind it back with this group and we’ll see how it goes.”
Referencing back to what Voss said, Sam Edmund felt that some Blues players who are departing such as Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni, or looking to get out, in the case of Charlie Curnow, must be thinking they’re making the right decision.
“They were all in the room at the John Nicholls Medal - Charlie Curnow, Jack Silvagni and Tom De Koning who is a separate issue - but you do wonder when you’re Jack and Charlie sitting there thinking ‘this is me, this is exactly why I’m leaving’,” he said.
“So all those things you do wonder.”
The off-season changes have already begun at the Blues, with Koning and Silvagni joining St Kilda through free agency, along with Alex Cincotta, Orazio Fantasia and Harry Lemmey who have been delisted.
With their reset, the Demons have already started their shift to a reliance on youth, with players from their 2021 premiership side in Steven May, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver potentially on the move this off-season.
