In confirming Mick Malthouse had joined the impressive pantheon of sacked Carlton coaches, Carlton president Mark LoGiudice used two words seldom uttered, and certainly never been practised, by the club.
LoGiudice promised the club would employ an independent panel as part of an "exhaustive process" that would deliver the next coach.
Carlton's board has never been a stickler for process when it comes to the hiring – or sacking – of coaches. The Blues poached Denis Pagan from North with a chequebook, hired Malthouse as a delisted free agent from Collingwood and handed the position to favourite son Brett Ratten after he lost the last six games of 2007. Pagan was terminated on Richard Pratt's jet in a flight back from Brisbane after Jonathan Brown booted 10 goals.
Carlton has been reluctant to adhere to "process", in the same way that the old Blues didn't like the word "rebuild" – another word that has been uttered by the new regime lately, much to the irritation of Malthouse, who felt the administration's messaging to supporters had undermined the team performance.
One official from the Ratten era was bemused by New Carlton's discovery of "process" and "rebuild" and apparent desire to invest in the draft. "The Blues are so funny," he said. "Now going out of their way trying not to be the Blues."
What is happening at Carlton shouldn't be underplayed. The Blues, renowned as the last club to embrace football's socialist system, are repudiating much of what they stood for when they were successful, albeit there's still a cultural Rubicon or two they're yet to cross.
In practical terms, this attempt at de-Carltonification means that the Blues will run that rigorous coach search for the first time in their history – it will be as painstaking as the Richmond search that ultimately landed Damien Hardwick, just ahead of Ken Hinkley and Alan Richardson. It is therefore likely, though not certain, that the 2016 coach will be an assistant coach at another club with a solid pedigree. An "exhaustive" process will consider all options – including contracted coaches – and the club would be unwise to specify any leanings.
Up until now the Blues have never hired the equivalent to Hardwick, Adam Simpson or Luke Beveridge, for the same reason that they long preferred to give up draft picks for "proven" players. They haven't backed themselves to locate the best unproven talent – on or off-field. This requires too much diligence and/or time, and their supporters – like their board – have wanted results last week.
The Blues had planned to invest in the draft in the late Pagan/early Ratten years, but bungled far too many picks, didn't turn over enough of their list and finally overestimated the talent. Malthouse, like Ratten, has paid for recruiting mishaps, albeit he was not extracting nearly enough from the playing group this year.
Last Thursday, on the same day Malthouse criticised the administration and thus instigated the process of his sacking, Carlton held the official 20th anniversary of the 1995 premiership. Carlton people hardly need reminding that 1995 was achieved in a faraway galaxy. As one club insider put it, 1995 was really a VFL premiership that carried over into the AFL – the rapacious Blues had achieved this flag on the back of the previous system, paying whatever it took, to who ever they could get. Greg Williams, the Norm Smith medallist snatched from a poor club, was a symbol of their defiance.
Chief executive Steven Trigg and LoGiudice have signalled their desire to reinvent and re-brand the club into one that is more methodical, patient and embracing of a disillusioned, disenfranchised supporter base. Stephen Silvagni, exiled since the early 2000s, has returned as list manager and faces an enormous challenge with the single greatest impediment to the club's recovery – the playing list.
But if they are serious about creating a New Carlton, the Blues board must also examine their own toxic role – their factions, uhhealthy reliance on billionaire benefactors and lack of accountability – in what has occurred. The aforementioned official from Ratten's day noted that four of the current board have presided over three coach sackings. If those boards were right to sack the coach, then it follows that the mistake was in hiring or re-contracting them; like Pagan and Ratten and Wayne Brittain before him, Malthouse has not gone the contractual distance at Carlton.
If we are seeing the passing of Old Carlton then no one should feel more wistful than those of us who covered this colourful creature. New Carlton promises to be more like other clubs and if this is better for the Blues, it won't be better copy.
