Blues footy boss Lloyd to leave at season’s end but Wright says list bosses will stay

Carlton have made their first big move after backing in coach Michael Voss, choosing to part ways with football boss Brad Lloyd but declaring their list management chief is safe.

Incoming club chief executive Graham Wright fronted the media on Tuesday and dismissed industry speculation, insisting Nick Austin, the head of list management, and national recruiting manager Michael Agresta, would remain.

“I don’t see any change there at this stage,” Wright said.

Asked categorically if they were safe, Wright replied: “Yeah”.

Wright said he expected skipper Patrick Cripps and fellow stars Sam Walsh, Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow and Jacob Weitering to be at the club next year.

“We haven’t got enough good players. We are like every team, we want more good players, or elite players … and those guys are in that category. I hope they are here. They are all contracted,” he said.

Wright said he had spoken with Curnow, who reportedly expressed an interest in joining Gold Coast, on Tuesday when the Blues announced to the club that Lloyd was leaving.

“He has four years to go [on his contract], a required player … he is recovering from his knee [injury], looking to have a couple of weeks overseas at some stage, and having a big pre-season. I don’t think there is anything there,” Wright said.

Wright has been a change agent in previous roles at Hawthorn and Collingwood, and has arrived at Ikon Park in a season when the Blues never recovered from their shock round one loss to Richmond, and have effectively been out of finals contention all season.

The Blues elected to keep Voss as coach in a marathon board meeting last week, but there are expected to be other changes at the club beyond Lloyd’s position, including potentially Voss’ assistant coaching staff.

Lloyd will complete his seventh and final season and remain in charge until the end of the men’s home-and-away season, which he was keen to do, a club source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to this masthead.

Wright said he had met with the assistant coaches on Tuesday, some of whom are off contract, but a final decision on their futures will be made with Voss. Wright said experienced senior assistant coach Aaron Hamill was contracted for next season.

“We have been really clear meeting with them all the way through around what their futures might be. We are mandated to let them know on August 1, but we told them probably early July we wouldn’t have an answer for them on August 1. We hope to get an answer for them in the next couple of weeks,” Wright said.

The Blues could look to lure a rival football manager as Lloyd’s replacement, such as Brisbane’s Danny Daly, whom Lions coach Chris Fagan has also suggested should be considered for the Demons’ vacant coaching job.

Another option may be outgoing Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley, who Voss worked under as an assistant at the Power from 2015-21 and has a long-standing relationship with.

Wright was asked about Hinkley, but said the Blues had yet to “actually formulate what it [the role] might look like or who”.

The incoming Tasmania Devils are also keen to employ Hinkley – likely in a football department role – but he has various offers from AFL clubs and has already ruled out being a contender for Melbourne, saying last week he would not decide on his future until at least Christmas.

Lloyd, who was previously Fremantle’s list manager, was appointed at Carlton in August 2018, and has worked alongside Voss and former senior coaches Brendon Bolton and David Teague.

“We have been ongoing discussions, probably for the last couple of months, Brad and I, just about where we go from his perspective. We landed on, he has been here for seven years, had three coaches on the way through, it was just time for a new voice and new leadership in the football department,” Wright said.

Wright said the Blues, in 14th spot, needed to improve in all areas.

“From my perspective, the team had come off being a top-four team, a top-eight team last year. You are hoping we could push into the top eight this year. Right at the moment, we are 14th on the ladder – that’s not good enough,” Wright said.

“We need to be better than that. We have looked really heavily into ‘Vossy’ over the last six weeks or so, I think which [president] Rob [Priestley] said we would do in a calm and rational manner, which we have done, looking at a whole range of things, and talking to a whole range of people in our football department. We are really clear that Michael is the guy to lead us into the future.”

Wright stressed the poor year was not solely Voss’ fault.

“There was a collective view that this wasn’t just a one-person issue, that it wasn’t just about Michael. It was about our players, our player leaders, about a whole range of areas around footy that we think we can get better in and that Michael is the person to lead us,” he said.

Wright said he still hoped Tom De Koning, weighing up a $12 million deal from St Kilda, and Jack Silvagni, with interest from Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs and Essendon, will accept the new contracts they have had before them for months from the Blues.

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