Collingwood coach reaches out to Michael Voss as ‘poor’ scenes drive dagger into Blues boss

The Magpies compounded the Blues’ misery in a lopsided AFL grudge match on Friday night.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae says he will reach out to embattled Carlton rival and good friend Michael Voss after a big win on Friday night that could spell the end for his Blues counterpart. Calls have been growing louder for Voss to be sacked as coach and he was thrown further into the firing line after the Blues suffered another humiliating defeat to the Pies at the MCG.

McRae’s Magpies cantered to a 56-point victory, which sees the Blues (6-10) lose further ground on the AFL top-eight and turns the heat up even more on their besieged coach. Voss admitted after the 17.13 (115) to 8.11 (59) defeat that is was a “really poor performance” and that his side had “let the club down” after another underwhelming showing.

Carlton president Rob Priestley this week declared Voss safe at least until the end of the season, without guaranteeing the coach will see out the final year of his contract. But another meek performance from the Blues will spark further debate about the 49-year-old’s tenure ahead of incoming CEO Graham Wright’s official start next month.

We let our club down tonight,” Voss said after the mauling by the Magpies on Friday night. “We want our supporters to be proud of us, and we didn’t do that tonight. There’s an expectation on the way we want to be able to play, and we didn’t do that tonight.

“So, that’s something that we’re going to have to sit with. Not going to avoid that conversation, we’ll have to cop our whack. We have to cop it because we can’t tolerate that. That was a really poor performance.” And with the knives sharpening and the discontent growing from Carlton’s supporter base, McRae admits his side’s big win was tinged with an element of sadness for his former teammate.

Craig McRae throws support behind under-fire Blues coach

McRae and Voss were premiership teammates at the Brisbane Lions during their playing days and the Collingwood coach says he feels for his Blues counterpart after their latest defeat. “For all our excitement there’s a level of, ‘I hope my mate’s OK’,” McRae said about Voss after the game.

“As much as we want to beat our arch-rival, that’s done now and I just go into love and care and support for a guy that I’ve got enormous love and support for. So I hope he’s going OK. It’s a tough industry, we know. We sit in this chair – it’s a hot seat – and when things don’t work out we know what the job sometimes puts across your desk.”

McRae and Voss may not have spoken much in the build-up to Friday night’s game but the Magpies coach made it clear he would reach out to his rival coach in the wake of clash. “I’m not sure whether I can do anything, other than just be there for him so he can maybe have someone to chat to through this period,” McRae added.

After three straight losses, Carlton are all but out of finals contention with seven rounds left to play. And Voss admitted the finals were the furthest thing from his mind after Friday’s loss, despite insisting that his men would continue to fight for the rest of the season – even if they showed little against the Pies.

The fight’s on and the season’s live, so this is the most important part,” he said. “Seeing out the season strongly is exactly what we are going to do. There will obviously be some opportunities, as we presented tonight, with some younger players, but there’s also trying to get the cohesion with the group to be able to play some time together.

“So we might have some breakdowns – we might – but we’re pretty determined to give that exposure where needed. But there’s also a level of expectation around our performance that we need as well.” Defeat leaves Carlton 16 points adrift of the top-eight in 12th, while victory extended Collingwood’s lead at the top of the ladder to 14 points as their premiership assault gathers steam.