Football can be a secretive business. But Carlton coach Michael Voss experienced the extremes of cloak-and-dagger club behaviour when he was smuggled into Ikon Park in the boot of a car before his appointment in 2021.
Voss was a contender for the Blues’ senior coaching role – a title that had frequently changed hands around that time – when he felt the scrutiny of the media as he arrived in Melbourne for an interview.
Michael Voss was smuggled into an interview for the coaching job. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
He told radio station Nova about Carlton’s unusual request, made in the hopes of keeping their meeting a secret.
“When I first arrived into the airport, with the media, obviously they find out that you’re coming in … and then as I jumped into the car, obviously [I] had the media chasing me to find out where the interview was going to be,” Voss told Nova on Thursday morning.
“Then on the day, [football manager] Brad Lloyd has said, ‘Look it’s Carlton, and you’re quite new here, and there’ll be people out front, mate, like, I’ve got a really unusual request, can you jump in the back of the boot?’”
Voss obliged. The Lions great and three-time premiership captain recalled banging his head as Lloyd drove over speed bumps.
“So I was not prepared … Brad’s gone over the first bump [and] I’ve hit my head on the top, I think I’ve half knocked myself out with concussion,” he joked.
“So I can’t remember [if] I got the job or not. I just turned up on Tuesday thinking I had it.”
Voss previously spent time as an assistant coach at Port Adelaide and as the Brisbane Lions’ senior coach. He won the coveted Carlton job ahead of Adam Kingsley, the current GWS coach.
That may have been the first time the Brownlow medallist was involved in a quirky story involving a vehicle, but it wasn’t the last.
Voss made headlines last year when he sensationally apprehended an alleged car thief in Hawthorn, holding the 16-year-old down until police arrived.
Blues gun turns heads at training
Carlton spearhead Charlie Curnow remains an outside chance to face Richmond in next Thursday’s round one clash with Richmond, after turning heads in a full training session behind closed doors at Princes Park on Thursday.
The Coleman medallist, who has struggled with knee and ankle problems since the latter stages of last season, trained fully and moved extremely well, bombing goals from 60 metres off just a few steps.
Whether he’s selected to play against Richmond remains to be seen. To risk him off a limited pre-season against Adem Yze’s Tiger cubs would represent a significant risk, especially for the player seen as the key to Carlton’s elusive 17th premiership.
Carlton coach Michael Voss and key forward Charlie Curnow.Credit: Getty
“So yeah, we’ll wait and give him every single chance. So I’d still say that he’s more unlikely than likely and more ready to go for round two. But yeah, we haven’t made that call yet,” Voss said on Nova radio before training.
“Who knows, he comes out today and trains really well over the next couple of days, then he could be right to go.”
Curnow’s teammate, Sam Walsh, is seen as nearly a certain starter against the Tigers. Walsh, too, moved well at training on Thursday and has fully recovered from a hamstring strain he sustained in mid-January.
Mitch McGovern, who limped off the field in the pre-season win over Greater Western Sydney last week with an ankle injury, has been declared a certain starter after scans revealed no structural damage.
McGovern was in severe pain after landing awkwardly in a marking contest but had fully recovered by the time he flew home with his teammates the following day.
He also trained strongly and will play against Richmond.
