Carlton coaching candidates: Who the Blues could consider

• Michael Voss resigns as Carlton coach

Whenever a coach departs a football club the talk quickly turns to: Who will be his replacement?

With Michael Voss the situation has been slightly different as the general consensus has been that 2026 would be his final season in charge of Carlton. As a result, talk of potential candidates has been swirling for some time.

Tuesday morning’s news that Voss has resigned from the Blues has only set that speculation further in motion.

Tom Morris, who broke the Voss story, floated a number of potential candidates who the Blues would be eyeing to lead the club in 2027 and beyond.

Current assistant Josh Fraser will take the reins for the next 14 matches but is unlikely to graduate from the interim role to a full-time gig, in the eyes of Morris.

He proposed previous senior coaches Adam Simpson, currently in a very casual role with the Blues, plus Ken Hinkley and John Longmire, as well as assistants such as Daniel Giansiracusa, Hayden Skipworth, Dean Solomon, Brett Montgomery and Brendon Lade.

“Josh Fraser has already been told that he will take over as interim senior coach for the next 14 weeks - a good runway for him to show what he can do as a senior coach,” Morris told SEN.com.au.

“I think it’s unlikely that he gets the Carlton gig, I think they’ll look elsewhere for that.

“Whether they look at Adam Simpson, whether they look at Ken Hinkley or John Longmire, or they go for the best available assistant around the league - Daniel Giansiracusa (Hawthorn), Hayden Skipworth (Collingwood), Dean Solomon (Essendon), Brett Montgomery (GWS), and Brendon Lade (Western Bulldogs) just to name a few.”

Footy great Garry Lyon floated a former Blue - Shaun Grigg - who has been busy honing his craft and building his knowledge first at Geelong and now under Damien Hardwick at Gold Coast.

Lyon referenced the changes made at Melbourne with Steven King replacing Simon Goodwin and how a fresh, first-time coach has had an immediate positive impact in 2026.

“Shaun Grigg, a former Carlton boy and premiership player at Richmond, who's up now doing unbelievable stuff at the Gold Coast Suns - he will be a name thrown up,” said Lyon.

“The Melbourne example will be one that I'm sure that the Carlton hierarchy will be looking at, a change can be good. Change can be dramatic and refreshing. Now that they've pulled the band-aid off, which way are they going to go - experience or new?

“There's a case to be made for both. Is it a great list to get your hands on or not? Not a great list, I wouldn't say. But you're going to get some time.”

Brisbane Lions footy boss Danny Daly is another name thrown into the mix.

It has been suggested that Daly could be the successor to two-time premiership coach Chris Fagan at the Lions, but why wouldn’t the Blues consider him?

“What about this name - Danny Daly,” Lyon said further.

“He's a brilliant football person, (he) understands every aspect of the game, every aspect of clubland.

“Now, whether that transfers into a senior coaching role, you'd never really know, but I don't think the Chris Fagan experience is going to work against him.”

Another potential candidates include Geelong's James Kelly, Fremantle's Jaymie Graham, Daniel Pratt at the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide's Scott Burns, Melbourne's Troy Chaplin, St Kilda's Corey Enright, and former Collingwood coach and current Cats assistant Nathan Buckley, among others.

Let the games begin…