Carlton need to do right by their fans in regards to their coach

Enough is enough at board level – we have seen the bad culture for 20 long years, and there are still a few on the board that won’t put their egos aside and appoint David Teague as the long term coach of Carlton.

Five wins from his last eight outings as coach of Carlton – that is grounds to give a full time position as coach. Right? Not in the eyes of the beholder. Teague is still considered a caretaker coach, and in the eyes of those beholders – an assistant coach who works with the forwards.

In 2002 we saw people power at Sydney as Paul Roos was appointed coach after the sacking of Rodney Eade from the top job, even though Sydney’s board were looking at other suitable candidates for that position.

Three years later Paul Roos ended a 72 year drought to long-suffering South Melbourne and Sydney supporters, and is now considered behind Ron Barassi as one of Sydney’s greatest coaches.

Rhyce Shaw walked into the North Melbourne job after Brad Scott and North Melbourne decided to part way a little over three months ago – and last week was given the tick of approval as North’s next full time coach – simply their intended target signed a long-term deal back in Sydney to remain at that helm.

North almost went down the same route as Carlton, but knew nobody else was better for the position other than Shaw to take North back to the promise land.

In 2015 John Barker was caretaker coach of Carlton but wasn’t ready to take on the capabilities of an AFL side full time, and they opted for Hawthorn assistant and Alastair Clarkson’s right hand man in Brendon Bolton.

Bolton was subsequently sacked from the position, and in eight weeks David Teague was given the keys to the team. Teague has done enough to prove enough he is ready to take on a senior role as a full time coach. His history with Carlton speaks for itself – he was Carlton’s best and fairest in 2004 under his former coach Denis Pagan – and won the Robert Rose award as the most courageous player.

(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Teague has been coaching since the age of 26, when he was told by the Blues they were going to go for a more youth oriented policy in their playing list. Teague coached the Northern Blues – formerly the Bullants – to two losing grand finals in 2009 and 2010, and has been at St Kilda, West Coast and Adelaide as an assistant coach and was the general and the key to Adelaide’s dominant forward line in 2017 which lead them to the grand final.

If that doesn’t scream enough experience, I don’t know what does. If Teague doesn’t get the senior coaching gig full time – expect a revolt from players and fans – and a drop in memberships.

Carlton supporters want Teague in the coaching job full time, and to see a rise in the memberships they need to sign Teague.

Michael Voss wouldn’t be a bad replacement, however he looks to be groomed for a spot as Port’s next coach if Ken Hinkley fails to take his team to September this season and Adelaide will monitor the Carlton coaching situation closely as they would welcome Teague back at West Lakes to replace Don Pyke if they do sack the embattled Crows coach.

Football director Chris Judd needs to step down if he isn’t ready to make the right decision, as the supporters see him as the last of the bad cultural members of the Malthouse era.

Carlton have the most crucial decision ahead in the next month and a bit – make the right decision by your loyal fans and players who are ready to stick fat during this tough rebuild they’ve endured since 2015.

Don’t cost us another five to ten years in the bottom four with a lacklustre coach who doesn’t have courage and heart like David Teague. He is the next diamond in the rough in the coaching ranks and it has been shown in the last two months.

Stats don’t lie and neither does people power.