Kane Cornes believes a reported event in the aftermath of Carlton’s loss to Sydney showcases how “the levels of hierarchy is all out of place” at the club in the aftermath of its fourth consecutive loss.
SEN chief reporter Sam Edmund revealed on SEN’s Sportsday that Blues co-vice captain Jacob Weitering approached president Luke Sayers after going down to Sydney by 26 points to defend his coach.
Weitering insisted Voss wasn’t to blame, instead putting the onus on himself and his teammates for the club’s poor performances in recent weeks.
But 300-gamer Kane Cornes sees it as a peculiar scenario that a senior player is having football discussions with the club’s president.
“I’m just trying to think how may conversations football-related I had in a 15-year career with the president of the football club (at Port Adelaide). Not many,” Cornes explained.
“It’s in passing, it’s ‘Gday’, it’s ‘what are you up to off the field, how’s the family’, and that sort of small talk.
“I’m not saying we were a particularly well-run club for the whole time I was at Port Adelaide, but certainly we had some success, the best presidents are behind the scenes and they do not get involved in football decisions.”
It comes after Carlton board member Craig Mathieson resigned on Monday morning, with reports suggesting he had a verbal altercation with Sayers in the changerooms following Carlton's Round 11 loss.
Cornes added he wasn’t critical of Weitering’s behaviour, but more so the club’s hierarchy for creating the insecure environment.
Voss is in just his second season at Carlton and after positive signs in his first year is now coaching one of the most out-of-form sides across the league.
The Blues have lost six of their last seven, intensifying the heat on Voss. Sayers last week held a media conference to preach stability within the club and Voss’ contract, which carries him through until 2023.
“I’m not critical of him doing that because I can see it’s coming from a good place. But it’s just another sign that the hierarchy is all out of order,” Cornes added of Weitering's behaviour.
“That’s not the place after an emotional loss, fourth in a row, in the changerooms after a Friday night game in a public space to have that discussion, particularly now that we’re learning about the board room upheaval and arguments in the same place.
“It is just a sign they do not know what they’re doing, they’re panicking and the levels of hierarchy is all out of place.”
Sayers and his board appointed renowened footy operator Brian Cook as Carlton’s CEO in late 2021. Presidents, as Cornes notes, typically take more of a hands-off approach with football operations.
The Blues will be tested again in Round 13 under the bright lights of Friday night footy, this time coming up against Melbourne at the MCG.