MICHAEL Voss has revealed his most recent dinner with Carlton CEO Graham Wright and president Rob Priestley was the moment he knew he was on "shaky ground" as Blues coach and that "the inevitable was about to become clearer”.
In an exclusive interview with AFL.com.au on the day he departed the Blues, Voss has also revealed a coffee with manager and long-time friend Peter Blucher last Friday morning finally set the wheels in motion for his exit.
Voss said the most recent of his regularly scheduled meetings with Blues powerbrokers made it clear that his role was becoming untenable, but that the "fighter" in him meant he wanted to continue as coach.
"You read in these situations (that) it's often what they don't say, not what they do say," Voss told AFL.com.au of his recent dinner with Wright and Priestley.
"And I read enough into what they didn't say ... it was on shaky ground and the inevitable was about to become clearer.
>> WATCH THE MICHAEL VOSS EXCLUSIVE ABOVE
"But the fighter in you and the competitor in you wants to take it as far as you possibly can."
Voss said the week after the round eight loss to St Kilda, when the Blues conceded 11 goals to two in the second half to again cough up a half-time lead, was the first time he felt his role as coach was untenable.
And a catch-up with Blucher on the morning of last Friday night's game against Brisbane convinced him his time was up, saying he went into that match knowing it would be his last.
"Last week was the first time where I sat with the result the week before ... and I felt like it was time to have those conversations," he said.
"That conversation (with Blucher) was important because I didn't want the result (against the Lions) to be the emotional or acute response to change my mind.
"I was hoping for a 'Miracle on Grass' II ... I was looking for another one. If we had won under those circumstances - and it's all hypothetical - you could get swept up in that emotion and hang around a bit longer. But I didn't want that game to do that.
"If I was feeling that, and it was the first time I had felt that, that I was getting to the point where the decision had to be made.
"I had a coffee with 'Bluch' in the morning ... spoke to Chris Davies soon afterwards and the wheels were set in motion.
"Coming into that (Brisbane) game, I knew that apart from dotting the I's and crossing the T's, that this was going to be my last game.
"It was my last game, but not everyone knew."
Watch the full Michael Voss interview with Damian Barrett in the video player above
Michael Voss on ...
Addressing the Carlton players and staff on Tuesday
"I've had a few days to think about it, you get the final pieces of the puzzle. But there's one thing knowing it and there's another thing saying it. You walk in thinking you're doing OK ... but when you've actually got to say the words. Talking to those people is tough, when you've had four or five years working so closely together. It's all about people for me, and always has been."
Sam Docherty's comments earlier this season
"What I'd say in Doc's instance is he just should know better what it's like to be that person inside the building. I thought that would have been a more insightful conversation rather than joining the masses. Whatever Sam does next is completely up to him. But that's the kind of energy we need to shift."
His family and wife Donna
"I think we all know that when the commentary is there and the conversations are about you and replacing you, you can cop bullets but it's often the ricochet that people feel. And those people are my kids and my mum and dad and my wife. (Donna) has always been in the shadows and happy to stay there. She certainly doesn't want to be front and square at all. And I think that sort of support (while) being able to forge this career that has been 35 years long, she's been there for pretty much the whole time. When you have that sort of support, you can go off and do your thing and come back and debrief and they're there for you no matter what. My kids don't know me as anything else; they know me as a performer and the coach, and they're probably only (old enough) really know the coach. We live our lives through the football team. She has been a great support. There's no possible way I could do this without her."
His feelings towards the Carlton Football Club
"I've been really privileged to coach this football club. There's no animosity here, there's no anger. I'm at peace with the decision."
If Carlton is a better place compared to when he arrived in 2021
"I guarantee you that it's a better place than when I walked in there. You're comparing silos to alignment, no accountability to full accountability, substandard training standards to elite training standards. It's a completely different place. The frustration in that is the end-up measure that we want to tick over is the W. And we haven't been able to transfer that enough.”
The mental toll of this season
"What I can't explain is a lot of that has not impacted me as much as perhaps what people see. You get people reaching out and checking in, and honestly I'm fine until people check in, and then I've got to check in to see I'm actually OK."
On the Blues' list
"It's a changing list. I think you've got to acknowledge that there are just those winds of change and that to bring us into more of a contemporary group with the way we played, it requires personnel change. I felt there was enough there to be able to make us more than competitive throughout this year. I didn't know where that was going to take us, other than let's ride the journey and see how far it takes us. We've had some moments that could've gone either way. We've had some sliding door moments that could've fallen one way or the other and I don't think one of those have actually fallen our way."
