2022 Carlton Football Club season
The 2022 AFL season will be the 126th season in the Australian Football League contested by the Carlton Football Club, and the sixth AFL Women's season contested by its senior women's team. Club summary. The 2022 AFL season will be the 126th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it will also be the 126th season contested by the Carlton Football Club. The club will also field its women's team in the sixth season of the AFL Women's competition, its men 's reserves team in its fifth Victorian Football League season, and its women's reserves team in its fourth VFL Women's season. In a change from the previous seven seasons, Carlton's primary home ground will be Marvel Stadium and secondary home ground will be the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the team playing six home games at the former and five at the latter. Traditional home ground Ikon Park will continue to serve as the training and administrative base, and as the home ground for AFL Women's and the men's reserves matches. Car manufacturer Hyundai, which had  been a major sponsor of the club continuously since 2008, and Great Southern Bank which became a major sponsor during the 2021 season, continued as the club's major sponsors through the 2022 season. Senior personnel. Early in the 2021 season, a change in the presidency was announced, with club director and former PriceWaterhouseCoopers CEO Luke Sayers taking over from eight-year president Mark Lo Giudice immediately after the end of the 2021 season. As part of the transition, and in response to the club's weaker than expected start to the 2021 season, a comprehensive review of the club 's football department was undertaken in the second half of 2021, which was conducted by Sayers, CEO Cain Liddle, and external panel members Matthew Pavlich, Geoff Walsh and Graham Lowe. Following the report, a wide range of senior personnel changes changes were made at the club. Sayers officially became president on August 17, 2021, one round before the 2021 season's end. Chief among the changes was the sacking of senior coach David Teague, after two seasons of his initial three year contract. Although his 21–29 win–loss record bettered those of his two predecessors (Mick Malthouse's 19–32–1 and  Brendon Bolton's 16–61), interviews conducted during the review found Teague's coaching methods and gameplan were supported by only 30% of the club's players and staff, with that support heavily slanted towards the younger players. The review found that the gameplan focussed too heavily on attack at the expense of defense, was confusing for the players to execute, and that he was frequently outcoached by opposing coaches. Teague was replaced with Michael Voss, who was signed to a three-year contract. Voss had previously served as senior coach at (2009–2013) and assistant coach at (2014–2021), and had been  a front-runner for the vacant Carlton senior coaching role in both 2008 and 2019, when Brett Ratten and Teague were appointed respectively. The club made well publicised overtures to long-time senior coaches Alastair Clarkson ( 2005–2021) and Ross Lyon ( 2007–2011 and 2012–2019) as part of its search, with both declining the role. The review also identified deficiencies in the leadership, experience and development capabilities of the coaching staff. The assistant and development coaching panels underwent substantial changes, with ten-year assistant coach John Barker departing early in the review process, six-year assistant Dale Amos and four-year development  coach Brent Stanton sacked at the end of the season, four-year assistant Cameron Bruce departing for a role at . Joining the panel was: assistant coach and former Carlton player of the 1990s Aaron Hamill as backline assistant coach; Tim Clarke, for his second stint as Carlton's midfield assistant coach after three seasons at ; and assistant coach Ashley Hansen, who served as forwards assistant coach and as step-up game day senior coach in Round 2 when Voss was absent under Covid-19 protocols. There were also several changes at the club's administrative level. Liddle was sacked after four  years as CEO in the role, and replaced with Brian Cook, who had served 32 seasons in CEO roles with (1990–1998) and (1999–2021), overseeing five premierships at those clubs. Four new additions were made to the club's board of directors: former player Greg Williams (as football director), Lincoln Indicators co-founder Tim Lincoln, communications strategist Lahra Carey and JPMorgan Australia and New Zealand chairman Robert Priestly; Jeanne Pratt, Chris Townshend and football director Chris Judd all departed. Onfield, Sam Docherty stepped aside from the co-captaincy and leadership group, doing so to focus on his recovery from treatment for  testicular cancer with which he was diagnosed in August 2021. Docherty had served as co-captain with Patrick Cripps for the previous three seasons. Cripps will continue as co-captain, with Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering serving as vice-captains and no broader leadership group named. Squad for 2022. The following is Carlton's squad for the 2022 season. "Statistics are correct as of end of 2021 season." "Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football." Additionally, under the league's 2022 Covid-19 policies, twenty players from the club's reserves  list were nominated as top-up players, who may become eligible to play senior football in the event that the club's primary list is reduced below 28 players due to isolation requirements for Covid-19 positive players. These top-up players were: Ned Cahill, Alex Cincotta, Josh Cripps, Ben Crocker, Jesse Glass-McCasker, Luke Goetz, Hugh Hamilton, David Handley, Will Hayes, Cody Hirst, Tyreece Leiu, Michael Lewis, Zavier Maher, Tom North, Stefan Radovanovic, Oliver Sanders, Matt Shannon, Cooper Stephens, Joel Trudgeon and Toby Wooller. Playing list changes. The following summarises all player changes which occurred after the 2021 season. Unless  otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2021 National Draft. For the second consecutive season, the club lost two of its four most experienced players to retirement at the end of the previous season: Marc Murphy retired after 300 games, and Eddie Betts retired after 350 games (218 for Carlton). The club also unexpectedly lost full back Liam Jones to early retirement in November, after he declined comply with the league mandates related to the COVID-19 vaccine for all players; he was the first AFL men's player to retire over the vaccine. The club was almost inactive  during the draft, bringing in only one new player through the drafts and making its other additions through trades and other channels. Season summary. Pre-season. The club played two full-length practice matches in the lead-up to the season. The match against Melbourne was scheduled as part of the 2022 AAMI Community Series, and the match against St Kilda was arranged between the clubs. The club's women's squad saw four prominent departures between seasons. Co-captain Katie Loynes and equal club games record holder Alison Downie (39 games) were both delisted, joining and respectively. Tayla Harris , the club's most marketable player, was traded to as part of a multi-club trade after she and Carlton were unable to reach terms on a new contract. Inaugural player Jess Hosking also departed for , where her twin sister Sarah had moved in 2021. AFL Women's. Carlton gained inaugural GWS player Jessica Dal Pos as part of the Harris trade, the club's only experienced recruit for the season. Annie Lee, Keeley Sharar, Brooke Vickers and Imogen Milford joined the club through the draft. The club's 2022 squad is given below. Numbers in parentheses represent games played  and goals kicked in 2022. Carlton finished eighth out of fourteen for the 2022 AFL Women's season, with a 4–6 win-loss record, to miss the finals. The club's form was overall consistent with its finishing position, with an 0–6 record against the top six teams – its best result in those games being a one point loss against second-placed Melbourne – and a 4–0 record in the four matches played against other bottom eight teams.