2026 Carlton Football Club season

In

Out

List management

Pre-season

Carlton played two practice matches, the first deemed unofficial match simulation and the second deemed an official practice match, as part of its lead-up to the premiership season.

Home-and-away season

After finishing 11th in 2025 and losing Curnow, de Koning and Silvagni between seasons, pundits almost unanimously predicted Carlton would have a middling season, with a possible but unlikely wildcard appearance.^[26][27]

Carlton began the season much more poorly than expected, and after round 9 the team was 16th on the ladder with a 1–8 record – that sole win coming unconvincingly by four points against last-placed Richmond. The team's performances were repeatedly characterised by competitive or even dominant first halves, before being overrun in weak second halves, with performances including: in the opening round against Sydney (led by 22 points in the third quarter, lost by 63 points)^[28]; in round 1 against Richmond (led by 29 points in the third quarter, held on to win by four points);^[29] in round 3 against Melbourne (kicked the first seven goals, lost by 23 points);^[30] in round 4 against North Melbourne (conceded the last five goals, lost by 10 points);^[31] in round 6 against Collingwood (led by 23 points in the third quarter, lost on a kick after the final siren);^[32] and in round 8 against St Kilda (led by 15 points in third quarter, lost by 39 points).^[33] Second half fade-outs had dogged Carlton throughout Michael Voss' entire coaching tenure, something which analysts ultimately put down to the fatigue caused by the hard contested ball tactics he preferred to employ; but the frequency of fade-outs at the start of 2026 was greater than in any of Voss' previous years.^[34]

Speculation from media and calls for fans that Voss – in the final year of his contract – should be sacked began early in the year, most infamously when 'Sack Voss' graffiti was painted on a Richmond café after the round 4 loss against North Melbourne.^[35] Voss ultimately resigned after the round 9 loss against Brisbane, and was replaced by Josh Fraser as interim coach.^[36]

Fraser immediately implemented a drastic change in the team's ball movement gameplan, adopting a short kick-and-mark strategy with focus on angled kicks, in place of the long kicking and contested marking game that Voss had employed.^[37] This saw significant statistical shifts: Carlton increased in short kicks (from 13th in the league under Voss to first under Fraser), uncontested marks (from 13th to 1st), effective kicks (from 15th to first), decreased in long kicks (from 6th to 18th) and still maintained their strength in contested possessions which had been their most prominent strength under Voss.^[37] The new, effective gameplan drove a complete reversal in form, and after having lost its last seven matches under Voss, the team won its first seven in a row under Fraser, which included wins against finalists Western Bulldogs and Geelong to climb from 16th on the ladder to 10th after round 17. However, after losing the next two matches, Carlton dropped to 12th.

Entering the final month, Carlton was in a four-club fight for tenth place – but with a more difficult fixture and weaker percentage than St Kilda and Greater Western Sydney was considered an outsider.^[38] But, a 76-point round 21 win against top-four Brisbane Lions,^[39] followed by a big round 22 win against wildcard favourite St Kilda^[40] put Carlton in control of its own destiny – needing at least one win or draw from its last two matches, or for St Kilda and GWS each to lose both matches. Carlton secured its wildcard position with a draw against the 8th-placed Bulldogs in round 23, resulting in unusually huge final siren cheers for a drawn match^[41]. Carlton ended by defeating minor premiers Fremantle in the final round as well, and finished in 10th place by a 10 premiership point margin above St Kilda in 11th.^[42]

Altogether, Carlton's record under Fraser in the latter half of the season was 11–2–1, the best record among all 18 clubs over the same fifteen rounds.^[43] Fraser was appointed full-time senior coach on a three year contract following the wildcard-clinching draw in round 23.^[44]

Finals

In the wildcard final, Carlton faced Melbourne. After conceding the first four goals of the first quarter, Carlton kicked the next five goals to take the lead just before half time. It was a close second half, before Carlton kicked two goals – both by Jagga Smith – to none in the final quarter to win by 19 points. Ben Ainsworth kicked three goals and Sam Walsh had 39 disposals.^[59]

Carlton then faced Geelong in the elimination final. A strong start saw Carlton lead by as much as 21 points early in the second quarter, but Geelong had fought back to a three point deficit by half time. As rain fell in the second half, Geelong ultimately kicked away with a run of eight consecutive goals either side of three-quarter time, with a final margin of 33 points.^[60]

AFL Rising Star

Carlton players filled the top two places in the 2026 AFL Rising Star award.^[62]

• Second-year midfielder Jagga Smith, who had missed the entire 2025 season with a knee reconstruction, earned his nomination in round 1, and polled 54 of a possible 55 votes from the eleven-person voting panel to win the award.
• First-year key defender Harry Dean earned his nomination in round 12, and polled 39 votes to finish second.

It was the first time the top two finishers had come from the same club since 2004, when Jared Rivers and Aaron Davey of Melbourne finished top two. Two other Carlton players were nominated without polling votes in the final count: small forward Talor Byrne (round 20) and rebounding defender Billy Wilson (round 24).^[63]

Other awards

Representative honours

The following Carlton players were selected for representative teams during the 2025 season.

• In the 2026 AFL Origin match:
  • For Western Australia: Patrick Cripps, who was named captain.^[64]
  • For Victoria: Jacob Weitering.^[65]

Honorary teams

• No Carlton players were selected in the 2026 All-Australian team. Patrick Cripps was the only Carlton player named in the 46-man squad.^[66][67]
• Two Carlton players were named in the 2026 22under22 team: Jagga Smith (wing) and Harry Dean (full back).^[68]

Other awards

• Harry Dean won the AFL Players' Association Best First Year Player award.^[69]

Statistical leaders

• Patrick Cripps, tied with Jai Newcombe (Hawthorn), led the league in clearances (174) for the home-and-away season.^[70]

Elijah Hollands' behaviour against Collingwood

During its round 6 match against Collingwood, wingman Elijah Hollands played while suffering a mental health episode, displaying erratic and disengaged behaviour on the field throughout both the warm-up and match. Unable to have an impact, he recorded only one disposal before being benched in the final quarter.^[71] Hollands had missed much of the 2025 season as he dealt with mental health and alcohol abuse problems,^[72], but had won a place back on the list during the supplemental selection period and was recapturing some of his earlier strong form before the round 6 episode.^[73]

Hollands was admitted to hospital in the aftermath,^[74] and did not play another match for the club, ultimately being delisted at the end of the year.^[75] Carlton was fined $75,000, to be donated to headspace, for its mishandling of the episode, especially for leaving him on the field for as long as it did. The incident also prompted the AFL to mandate that all AFL clubs employ a full-time psychologist.^[76]

Men's

Carlton's men's reserves team contested its ninth VFL season; and its 89th overall season of reserves and state level competition dating back to 1919.

Damian Truslove took over from Luke Power as reserves coach. VFL-listed players newly signed to the team included: former AFL-listed senior players Darcy Tucker (Fremantle and North Melbourne), Jaidan Magor (Sydney) and Alwyn Davey Jr. (Essendon); and Will Cookson, Ryder Corrigan, Charlie Cotter, Tom Evans, Liam Farrer, Tyson Gresham, Jack O'Sullivan, Sam Paea, Cohen Paul, Will Reinhold, Jed Rule, Jack Sammartino and Harrison Wilson. Retained from 2025 were: Ollie Badr, Dane Harvey, Cooper Hamilton, Darcy Hogg, Taj Logan, Ethan Phillips, Logan Prout, Archie Stevens, Cooper Vickery, Ollie Warburton; and Flynn Riley who joined the Carlton senior list in the mid-season draft.^[77] The club implemented a policy of one of having one of its AFL-listed players serve as reserves captain on a rotating basis, rather than a single appointed reserves player fulfilling the role, as part of serving leadership development among the senior corps; a reserves-listed leadership group of Tucker, Phillips, Sammartino, Prout, Cookson and Vickery was also appointed.^[78]

Carlton's reserves finished 9th out of 22 clubs in the 2026 VFL season, with a record of 10–8 to reach the wildcard round of the finals on percentage. Carlton was comfortably beaten by Williamstown in its wildcard final, trailing by as much as 82 points in the third quarter before nine final quarter goals narrowed the margin to 38 points.^[79]

Reserves finals matches

Women's

The club will field a team in the VFL Women's competition for the seventh time.