IN THE end, it was the hot and cold of Carlton that got to Michael Voss.

His five-year reign as Blues coach ended in recent days following a performance against Brisbane that typified his tenure. Brilliant in patches, disastrous in others. The bad, undoubtedly, outweighing the good.

This season, Voss and the curious case of Carlton confounded as much as any other. Frustration increased, apathy amongst supporters set in, and a decision on the coach's future became a question of when and not if.

That 'when' eventuated across the weekend, with Voss resigning following strong recent conversations with club officials where it became increasingly clear he wouldn't be offered a new deal beyond this season.

It will lead to questions around whether new Carlton chief executive Graham Wright made the right decision in throwing his support behind Voss last August, a call that now looks as though it has condemned the Blues to yet another wasted season.

But you can see the rationale behind his thinking. Voss brought Carlton closer than any coach in the last 25 years to that elusive premiership victory, riding a tidal wave of momentum through to the preliminary final in 2023. Even this season, the one that led to his departure, there have been signs that the Blues are almost there.

Carlton led for 64 minutes against Sydney, 108 minutes against Melbourne, 88 minutes against North Melbourne, 23 minutes against Adelaide, 71 minutes against Collingwood, then 51 minutes against St Kilda. In most of those matches, it also held commanding leads to go with the time it spent in front.

Even in the games where Carlton never looked likely, in defeats to Fremantle and Brisbane across the last month, it got to within 14 and 10 points respectively late in the piece. The confusion, as much as the frustration among Blues officials, was that bad teams – teams with 1-8 records – simply don't do that.

But the topsy-turvy nature of Carlton under Voss in 2026 surprised no one. Indeed, clearing the final hurdle had long been his biggest issue at Ikon Park, and the repeated nature of the side's late collapses was the most significant factor in the constant ratcheting-up of the pressure valve.

Even in 2023, when Voss made memories that will last Blues fans a lifetime, the team was forced to recover from a 4-8-1 start to even make finals. That campaign is remembered for the 11 wins from the last 12 games, but could just as easily have been blighted by the six-match losing streak that preceded it.

Go back a year earlier, and the side's collapse from 25 points in front against Collingwood in the final match of the 2022 season – punctuated by Jamie Elliott's late winner to break Blues hearts – came after Carlton had started the year at 8-2. The Blues, remember, didn't just lose the Magpies match. They lost four straight to miss finals, when all they needed was one win from the last month to taste September.

Or go forward a year later, when Carlton started the 2024 campaign with an 11-4 record and genuinely emerged as a premiership threat. The fact that the rot that still remains today started against the Giants in that season, where they went from 39 points ahead to 36 points behind in the blink of an eye, was telling for what was to come.

The Blues have won just 12 of 41 games since and have given up more big leads worth 31 points to Port Adelaide (2024), 41 points to Richmond (2025) and 43 points to Melbourne (2026) in that time. And while you can question whether bad sides ever even hold such buffers, good sides certainly don't throw them away.

Voss made tactical missteps along the way that compounded the side's late-game fragilities. His failure to read the tea leaves across the 2024-25 summer saw the Blues focus primarily on rigid defensive structures, when the competition at large instead shifted its priority to offence.

Carlton was left playing catchup for much of 2025 and fell further behind when the League's rule changes at the end of last year promoted more attacking football. Across the summer, the Blues tried to implement a more expansive and dynamic game plan but players continued to fall back on old habits when the pressure came.

Pressure itself also became an issue. Carlton remains the only team in the competition yet to out-pressure a single opponent this year and recorded a season-low pressure rating of just 152 against St Kilda a fortnight ago. For decision-makers at Ikon Park, such a marker was a growing concern.

It highlighted one of three things, two of which fell on Voss; that the players were no longer working for the coach and weren't heeding his message, or that his systems and structures weren't working. But perhaps more worrying is the third option; that the players simply aren't capable of executing what he wanted, an issue that would fall on the athleticism of the list and – unlike the coach – can't be changed overnight.

The Blues have been attempting to get younger to combat such fears over the longevity of their window. Later this year, father-son and potential No.1 draft selection Cody Walker is set to become the club's third top-three pick in consecutive seasons following Jagga Smith and Harry Dean.

You could argue that's made Voss' job harder, setting him up for failure in 2026. But trades for Will Hayward, Ollie Florent, Ben Ainsworth and even Campbell Chesser were supposed to add a layer of dynamism to the side, keeping the Blues competitive throughout the push for more youth.

Carlton made other decisions to support Voss. The club backed him last August to see out his contract for 2026, while it traded two-time Coleman Medal winner Charlie Curnow to Sydney last October in a decision that increasingly felt like a 'me or him' call for both of the parties involved.

It did so because there was always a genuine desire for Voss to succeed at Ikon Park. Unlike previously discarded Blues coaches, who left players and staff with sour tastes in their mouths upon their departures, the incredibly likeable and well-meaning Voss continued to retain the support of most people at the Blues.

But the pressure of coaching on a rollercoaster, with the defeats stacking up, an expiring contract to consider, and the recent all-encompassing and all-club challenge of the Elijah Hollands situation, ultimately became too much. Whether it was going to be his call or the club's, a decision to part ways became a necessary one.

It also leaves Carlton in a familiar position, searching for a ninth coach in the last 26 years with questions on the list and the direction and the future and the leaders and the board and the players and … just about everything else in between.

Having tried the first timer in Brendon Bolton, the interim in David Teague and the experienced in Voss across the last decade alone, the Blues will need to ponder which option do they return to in order to give themselves the best chance of securing success?

The question that might define such a call: Is this a good team, or is it a bad team?

Unfortunately for Voss, the hot and cold of Carlton meant he was never able to find out.