CARLTON called it an 'Alignment Camp'. A three-day, activity-laden stint on Victoria's Great Ocean Road that the Blues believe has acted as the circuit-breaker between last year's frustration-filled campaign and the vibe shift that has encompassed Ikon Park across the 2026 pre-season.

The camp, held late last November, not only featured energy-sapping sessions at Lorne's Stribling Reserve and exhaustive gym programs on the Wye River. It also gave the players an opportunity to clear the air on a disappointing 2025, leave any residual tension behind, and forge a new identity heading into the upcoming campaign.

Team bonding sessions at Lorne's Surf Living Saving Club, as well as beach relays, pitch and putt golf competitions and table tennis tournaments were all weaved in alongside the training drills and running routines that normally define a pre-season.

There was fun, there was planning, and there was a seriousness about how the side laid down its plans to attack 2026. At the centre of all of it, meanwhile, was Michael Voss. While the coach's presence was pivotal, it was the moments where he deferred back to the players that Voss himself believes will shape Carlton's 2026 season.

Across the summer, he's felt the mood change. In the side's two practice match victories over both of last year's Grand Finalists, first Brisbane and then Geelong, that has become more evident. And it was the club's so-called 'Alignment Camp' that he believes built the foundations for what's to come.

"It's been different, it's absolutely been different," Voss tells AFL.com.au.

"It's been an extremely positive pre-season. There's been a really conscious shift towards that as well, to make that happen. With all the things that happened throughout last year, and then the eventual change that happened right across the club – it didn't just land on players and coaches, it was a significant progressive change that was made – everyone has come in and asked what it's going to be like.

"Going away on that camp together was actually really important. It was like Year 8 camp, going away and getting to know each other again. Just by being away and not having a lot of distractions, we used it as an opportunity to be able to debrief anything we needed to leave behind.

"We learned the lessons that we took out of the year. How we were going to play was well and truly on the agenda. We had to create an alignment and an ownership. That's what we called it, an 'Alignment Camp'. We wanted to get the input from all of the really important stakeholders, so we could go away and design what we wanted it to look like. Importantly, at the back end of it, it had total ownership from everybody. That was the way we were choosing going forward.

"It was important. The players got to spend time on what they wanted their own locker room to be like and what type of teammates they wanted to be. That's obviously a really important conversation as well. But there's one thing saying it, it's another thing going out there and doing it."

Voss spent the majority of last season waking up to his future being debated in every corner of the footy sphere. The club's 0-4 start to the season, which included a round one defeat to lowly Richmond, meant Carlton was always chasing its tail and forced the coach's position at the helm to be one of the campaign's biggest storylines.

While the club and its new chief executive Graham Wright backed him in late last season, the questions around Voss' future aren't going anywhere. He remains the League's only uncontracted coach on the eve of the season – Fremantle's Justin Longmuir has an ongoing employment agreement – with only success likely to silence the debate on his position at Ikon Park.

But, entering his fifth season in charge, Voss is keen for that not to be the case. Be it a successful season or an unsuccessful one, the Blues coach wants the focus to be on the collective. Having learned valuable lessons from last season, he's desperate to avoid the unwanted distraction such headlines bring. 

"First of all, it is always about our club," Voss says of his contract status.

"It's not going to be about me. That is what I'm very determined to ensure doesn't happen. You've got to acknowledge that the question is going to be there. You can't ignore that. But first and foremost, when we started the pre-season, was that it was going to be our way and not my way.

"The way we played, our program, what we want it to look like, our ownership of our standards, we're always going to take a collective approach to that.

"Ultimately, that will take care of itself. If that turns out in favour, good. But this won't be about a year of whether I'm out of contract or I'm not. It's going to be about our club. That's what we represent, first and foremost. It won't be any different."

The 'vibe shift', as many around Carlton have described it, started immediately after Voss' position as coach was reaffirmed by Wright last August. That came after the new Blues chief executive made a recommendation to the club's board that he remained in charge, a glowing endorsement that was unanimously backed by the hierarchy at Ikon Park.

Rather than wait until after the season, or after the Trade Period, or after the draft, or even once the players returned to pre-season training, Voss wanted to ensure change would be sweeping through the club immediately. So, he sat down the group and flagged an attitude shift. He believes that was felt last year and was reflected in the side winning its final two matches of the 2025 campaign.

"What I was determined to do was to spend time with the playing cohort," Voss says.

"That was around saying, 'We can't find ourselves here again'. It happened in the back four or six weeks – because this didn't start in November when we came back together, this thing started effectively in August – the conversations were happening when it was at its rawest.

"Sometimes you can have a break, you come back and you forget about the bit of pain that you had and you just want to move forward. You can skip over really important details and forget a little bit about what actually happened. The reality was, there was responsibility within it. We needed to be able to know what that was and the key things we needed to get right.

"There's no doubt we had instability last year. There's no doubt there was a lack of cohesion among the group. Through that and those discussions, we had a lot of really timely and important conversations and some pretty tough ones at the back end of the year. Coincidentally, you probably saw a shift even then within the team in terms of the way we were playing."

That change soon swept through all areas of the club. Not only was Wright the new front man at executive level, but Chris Davies replaced Brad Lloyd as footy boss, Josh Fraser and Leigh Adams joined Voss' coaching team, while shifts have since been made in the recruitment department as well.

It's led to an entirely new-look football club, one that could have eight or nine first-time faces in next week's Opening Round side against Sydney. There's Will Hayward and Ollie Florent, who have joined from the Swans. Ben Ainsworth is assured a spot after moving from Gold Coast, while ex-West Coast winger Campbell Chesser and former Fremantle ruck Liam Reidy have also given themselves every chance of playing.

Jagga Smith is guaranteed an AFL debut after a glowing summer since returning from an ACL injury, father-son Harry Dean has made a strong case for a position down back alongside fellow debutant-in-waiting Wade Derksen, who was signed last week. Even raw youngster Talor Byrne has done enough across pre-season to put himself in the frame.

But they're not the only ones who will feel like new recruits. Sam Walsh missed half of last season, but has enjoyed his first full summer on the track in seemingly forever. He will feel a determination to prove himself once again after inking a lucrative eight-year free agency extension last week.

Harry McKay is in the same boat after missing 11 games last year. Elijah Hollands, Matt Cottrell and Brodie Kemp were sidelined for almost the entire season. Marc Pittonet and Hudson O'Keeffe, seen as key pillars in Carlton's tall stocks, also barely played. It's these types of players, as well as the new recruits, who Voss believes will form the bedrock for the side's year ahead.

"The team cohesion part is obviously where we need to spend most of our time," Voss says.

"The fact that they've been together training helps a lot, but when you put that together … Brodie Kemp barely played last year, Hudson O'Keeffe, Sam Walsh, Harry McKay and those guys, with Ben Ainsworth and Will Hayward and everyone else, it's very new. It's very, very new and very exciting.

"But also, what's really important as well for the group, is to continue finding ways to get better marginally. What we look like in round 12 or round 15, it's hopefully steady progress. We've really bought into that. The players can see that image and see that it might take a little bit of time.

"But fortunately, the ones we've added have brought some genuine experience as well. They get football, they know concepts. I've been really impressed with how they've been able to gel together.

"It's a credit to the coaches and the work they've been able to do with the players. And it's a credit to the players themselves that they've invested so much time in it."

Subscribe to the Your Coach podcast to listen to Riley Beveridge's full interview with Carlton coach Michael Voss.