| Club: | Carlton Football Club |
| Season: | 2016 |
| President: | Mark LoGiudice |
| Coach: | Brendon Bolton |
| Captain: | Marc Murphy |
| Home Ground: | Melbourne Cricket Ground (Training and administrative: Ikon Park) |
| Regularseason Comp: | AFL season |
| Regularseason Result: | 14th (7–15–0) |
| Club B&Amp;F: | John Nicholls Medal |
| Best And Fairest: | Sam Docherty |
| Leading Goalscorer: | Matthew Wright (22) |
| Club Membership: | 50,130 |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
| Nextseason: | 2017 |
The 2016 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 153rd season of competition, and 120th as a member of the Australian Football League. Under new senior coach Brendon Bolton, the club finished fourteenth out of eighteen teams in the 2016 AFL season with a 7–15 record.
The 2016 AFL season was the 120th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 120th season contested by the Carlton Football Club. Carlton's primary home ground continued to be the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the club playing six home matches there and five at Etihad Stadium; traditional home ground Ikon Park continued to serve as the training and administrative base. The club's two joint major sponsors were car manufacturer Hyundai, which has sponsored the club since 2008,[1] and job seekers' service provider CareerOne, newly signed in 2016 to a two-season deal;[2] the club's six-year association with confectionery company Mars came to an end at the end of the 2015 season.[3] Carlton continued its alignment with the Northern Blues in the Victorian Football League, allowing Carlton-listed players to play with the Northern Blues when not selected in AFL matches.
The club faced a financially challenging schedule, with no matches in the most lucrative Friday night timeslot following poor performances in 2015.[4] The club's membership was 50,130, a 6% increase from 2015.[5] The club's operating profit for the season was $1.1 million, with a net deficit of $765k after depreciation and amortization – an improvement on its $2.7 million net deficit in the 2015 season.[6]
The club made a small alteration to its clash guernsey for 2016, by removing the navy blue panel around the waist of the guernsey and narrowing the widths of other blue panels and features, resulting in an overall whiter design. The design was plain white with navy blue side and shoulder panels, trimmings, monogram and number.[7] A second match day mascot, Navy Nina, was introduced to serve as female counterpart to the established mascot Captain Carlton; as with Captain Carlton, she is a masked, navy-wearing superhero.[8]
In June, Carlton was granted one of four Victorian licences for a team in the AFL's national women's competition, which is planned to be established from the 2017 season. Carlton's was one of the four successful bids among the eight Victorian clubs who applied for licences, with, and the other successful applicants and,, and the unsuccessful bidders.[9]
Mark LoGiudice continued as club president, a role he had held since June 2014.[10] Marc Murphy retained the role of captain for his fourth season in the role, and Kade Simpson remained vice captain; the rest of the seven-man leadership group comprised Patrick Cripps, Ed Curnow, Bryce Gibbs, Andrew Walker and Sam Docherty.[11]
The club's coaching panel underwent significant changes after the 2015 season, following the dismissal of incumbent Mick Malthouse after Round 8, 2015. In August 2015, assistant coach Brendon Bolton was appointed Carlton's new senior coach; the club appointed Bolton to an ongoing staff position, rather than the more typical approach of hiring a senior coach on discrete fixed term contracts, with the caveat that Bolton be paid out for his first three years if dismissed during that time.[12] The majority of the assistant coaching panel was turned over with only John Barker, who had served as caretaker coach in 2015 following Malthouse's dismissal, and Matthew Capuano surviving from the 2015 panel. New additions to the assistant coaching panel were assistant coach Tim Clarke (midfield), assistant coach Dale Amos (backline), assistant coach Shane Watson (forward-line), and reserves coach Josh Fraser (development and VFL senior coach).[13] Neil Craig replaced Rob Wiley as director of coaching, development and performance, after having served in a similar role at .[14]
The following is Carlton's squad for the 2016 season after offseason transfers and drafts.
Statistics are correct as of end of 2015 season.Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football.
| Senior List[15] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | State | Player | Age | AFL Debut | Recruited from | Career (to end 2015) | 2016 Player Statistics | ||||||||||
| Gms | Gls | Gms | Gls | B | D | K | HB | M | T | HO | |||||||
| 1 | Andrew Walker (lg) | 29 | 191 | 130 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 130 | 77 | 53 | 34 | 25 | 4 | ||||
| 2 | 18 | – | – | 8 | 7 | 7 | 76 | 53 | 23 | 26 | 25 | – | |||||
| 3 | Marc Murphy (c) | 28 | 204 | 150 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 205 | 114 | 91 | 38 | 30 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Bryce Gibbs (lg) | 26 | 187 | 102 | 22 | 18 | 12 | 590 | 320 | 270 | 77 | 114 | 50 | ||||
| 6 | Kade Simpson (vc) | 31 | 242 | 124 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 597 | 383 | 214 | 152 | 54 | – | ||||
| 7 | Dylan Buckley | 22 | 27 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 142 | 81 | 61 | 34 | 32 | – | ||||
| 8 | 26 | 119 | 65 | 21 | 7 | 8 | 231 | 136 | 95 | 46 | 84 | 429 | |||||
| 9 | Patrick Cripps (lg) | 20 | 23 | 6 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 566 | 176 | 390 | 68 | 139 | 36 | ||||
| 10 | 18 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 11 | 22 | Bendigo (U18), | 27 | 23 | 21 | 6 | 14 | 448 | 210 | 238 | 99 | 70 | 6 | ||||
| 12 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 94 | 53 | 41 | 27 | 14 | – | |||||
| 13 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 186 | 122 | 64 | 54 | 38 | – | |||||
| 14 | 24 | North Hobart, | 75 | 75 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 78 | 44 | 34 | 24 | 18 | – | ||||
| 15 | Sam Docherty (lg) | 22 | Gippsland (U18), | 48 | 10 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 566 | 359 | 207 | 173 | 57 | – | |||
| 16 | Dillon Viojo-Rainbow | 19 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 17 | 28 | 51 | 13 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 198 | 99 | 99 | 84 | 28 | 24 | |||||
| 18 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | |||||
| 19 | 22 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 150 | 94 | 56 | 38 | 42 | – | |||||
| 20 | 21 | 20 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 233 | 121 | 112 | 77 | 35 | – | |||||
| 22 | 24 | Ainslie, | 39 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 | – | ||||
| 23 | 18 | – | – | 20 | 2 | 0 | 291 | 164 | 127 | 106 | 24 | – | |||||
| 24 | 23 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 25 | 19 | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 26 | Jayden Foster | 20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| 27 | 29 | 125 | 57 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 225 | 123 | 102 | 51 | 34 | – | |||||
| 28 | 18 | – | – | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 14 | 17 | 8 | 16 | – | |||||
| 30 | 18 | – | – | 6 | 5 | 2 | 60 | 35 | 25 | 18 | 9 | – | |||||
| 31 | 21 | Calder (U18), | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 32 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 220 | 118 | 102 | 56 | 59 | 1 | |||||
| 33 | 26 | Dandenong (U18),, | 118 | 76 | 13 | 17 | 8 | 180 | 99 | 81 | 67 | 17 | 6 | ||||
| 34 | 24 | 14 | 5 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 109 | 63 | 46 | 37 | 39 | 258 | |||||
| 35 | Ed Curnow (lg) | 26 | 88 | 11 | 21 | 5 | 9 | 524 | 275 | 249 | 76 | 147 | – | ||||
| 37 | 23 | Norwood, | 22 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 52 | 27 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 36 | ||||
| 39 | 28 | Gippsland (U18), | 182 | 135 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 333 | 202 | 131 | 77 | 55 | 2 | ||||
| 40 | 29 | North Ballarat (U18, VFL) | 145 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 18 | 19 | 14 | 10 | – | ||||
| 41 | 25 | 52 | 53 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 191 | 119 | 72 | 107 | 26 | 6 | |||||
| 42 |  | 26 | 98 | 34 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 443 | 275 | 168 | 80 | 48 | 1 | ||||
| 43 | Simon White | 27 | 59 | 10 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 261 | 132 | 129 | 76 | 42 | 2 | ||||
| 46 | 26 | North Adelaide, | 94 | 63 | 22 | 22 | 10 | 450 | 262 | 188 | 80 | 82 | – | ||||
| Rookie List | |||||||||||||||||
| No. | State | Player | Age | AFL Debut | Recruited from | Career (to end 2015) | 2016 Player Statistics | ||||||||||
| Gms | Gls | Gms | Gls | B | D | K | HB | M | T | HO | |||||||
| 21 | | 25 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 29 | 19 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 36 | 28 | 88 | 28 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 38 | | 21 | 1 | – | 11 | 0 | 1 | 184 | 103 | 81 | 48 | 24 | – | ||||
| 45 | 21 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 47 | 18 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 48 |  | 24 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
| Senior coaching panel[16] | |||||||||||||||||
| State | Coach | Coaching position | Carlton Coaching debut | Former clubs as coach | |||||||||||||
| Senior Coach | 2016 | North Hobart (s), Tasmania (VFL) (s), Clarence (s), Box Hill (s), (a) | |||||||||||||||
| Assistant coach (Stoppages) | 2011 | St Kilda (a), Hawthorn (a) | |||||||||||||||
| Director of Coaching, Development and Performance | 2016 | Norwood (s), (s), (cs), (m) | |||||||||||||||
| Assistant coach (Midfield) | 2016 | (a), Coburg (s), Richmond reserves (s) | |||||||||||||||
| Assistant coach (Forward-line) | 2016 | Lower Plenty (s), Sandringham (U18) (a), Eastern (U18) (s), (a) | |||||||||||||||
| Dale Amos | Assistant coach (Back-line) | 2016 | South Barwon (s), (a), Geelong reserves (s) | ||||||||||||||
| Development coach | 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
| Development coach, Northern Blues senior coach | 2016 | Gold Coast reserves (s) | |||||||||||||||
The following summarises all player changes which have occurred since the conclusion of the 2015 season. Unless otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2015 AFL draft.
| Player | Previous Club | League | via | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Korcheck[17] | Signed as a Category B International rookie late in the 2015 season. | |||
| AFL Trade Period, with 's second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 28, obtained in the trade for Patrick Dangerfield), in exchange for Troy Menzel. | ||||
| AFL Trade Period, with a first-round draft pick (provisionally No. 8), in exchange for Carlton's fifth- and sixth-round draft picks (provisionally No. 77 and 95), 's second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 28, obtained from in the trade for Troy Menzel) and 's first-round draft pick in the 2016 National Draft (obtained in exchange for Lachie Henderson). | ||||
| Daniel Gorringe[18] | Signed as a delisted free agent prior to the National Draft. | |||
| Jacob Weitering[19] | AFL National Draft, first round (No. 1 overall) | |||
| Harry McKay[20] | AFL National Draft, first round (No. 10 overall) | |||
| Charlie Curnow[21] | AFL National Draft, first round (No. 12 overall) | |||
| David Cuningham[22] | AFL National Draft, first round (No. 23 overall) | |||
| AFL National Draft, third round (No. 53 overall) under the father–son rule, after demoting a fourth round selection (from No. 55 to No. 58) to match the bid made by | ||||
| Matthew Wright[23] | Signed as a delisted free agent after the National Draft. | |||
| Jesse Glass-McCasker[24] | AFL Rookie Draft, first round (No. 1 overall) | |||
| Andrew Gallucci[25] | AFL Rookie Draft, second round (No. 19 overall) |
| Player | New Club | League | via | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Judd[26] | Removed from the list following his retirement in June 2015 | |||
| Andrew Carrazzo[27] | Field umpiring[28] | Retired from playing | ||
| David Ellard[29] | Greensborough[30] | Retired | ||
| Matthew Watson[31] | East Fremantle[32] | Delisted prior to the trade period | ||
| Cameron Giles | Woodville-West Torrens[33] | Delisted prior to the trade period | ||
| South Fremantle[34] | Delisted from the rookie list prior to the trade period | |||
| Fraser Russell | Northern Blues[35] | Delisted from the rookie list (category B) prior to the trade period | ||
| Lachlan Henderson[36] | AFL Trade Period, in exchange for a first-round draft pick in the 2016 National Draft. | |||
| Tom Bell[37] | AFL Trade Period, with a third-round draft pick (provisionally No. 41), in exchange for a second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 21) and a fourth-round draft pick (provisionally No. 60). | |||
| Troy Menzel[38] | AFL Trade Period, in exchange for Sam Kerridge and 's second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 28, obtained in a trade for Patrick Dangerfield). | |||
| Chris Yarran[39] | AFL Trade Period, in exchange for 's end-of-first-round compensation draft pick (provisionally No. 19, obtained in a three-way trade involving). | |||
| Robert Warnock[40] | Delisted prior to the national draft | |||
| Nick Holman | Central District[41] | Delisted prior to the national draft | ||
| Brad Walsh | Peel[42] | Delisted from the rookie list prior to the national draft | ||
| Tom Fields | South Adelaide[43] | Delisted from the rookie list prior to the national draft |
| Player | Change | |
|---|---|---|
| National draft | Carlton applied for a priority draft pick in the national draft,[44] but the request was rejected by the AFL.[45] | |
| National draft | Carlton traded its second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 20), Brisbane's second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 21, obtained in the trade for Tom Bell) and its fourth-round draft pick in the 2016 National Draft in exchange for ' first-round draft pick (provisionally No. 11) and its third-round draft pick in the 2016 National Draft. | |
| Received permission to train with Carlton from the beginning of pre-season training in November 2015, but he was not redrafted. | ||
| Retired from playing following the Round 20 match against .[46] | ||
| Retired from playing following the Round 20 match against .[47] |
The club's three scheduled pre-season matches were played as part of the 2016 NAB Challenge series.
| Rd | Date and local time | Opponent | Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) | Venue | Attendance | |||||
| Home | Away | Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | Thursday, 18 February | align=left | 0.8.5 (53) | 0.4.8 (32) | Lost by 21 points[48] | Aurora Stadium (A) | 9,181 | ||
| 2 | align=left | Sunday, 28 February | align=left | 1.3.8 (35) | 1.13.8 (95) | Lost by 60 points[49] | Ikon Park (H) | 18,718 | ||
| 3 | align=left | Friday, 11 March | align=left | 1.8.12 (69) | 0.14.7 (91) | Lost by 22 points[50] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 6,804 | ||
Following its 2015 wooden spoon and the loss of some senior players to trades and free agency over the offseason, expectations on the club's 2016 performance were low – with some pundits even predicting that Carlton would perform worse than an team missing twelve of its best twenty-two players due to suspensions for using illicit substances during the 2012 season.[51] [52] Nevertheless, the club improved significantly on its 2015 performances to finish with seven wins, three more than the previous season.
The highlight of the club's season was the seven-round stretch between Rounds 5 and 11, in which it won six of seven games, including an upset win against eventual third-placed team, which had the team sitting in a season-high tenth place with a 6–5 record. However, the club had the worst record in the league in the second half of the year, winning only one of eleven games; and although it impressed with narrow losses against eventual finalists, and, it also unexpectedly lost matches against the bottom two and . Overall across the season, the club was:
Altogether, the club's ability to defend and prevent its opponents from scoring improved greatly, conceding 376 points fewer than it had in 2015; but its lack of options in the forward-line was a continuing problem, and the club was the second-lowest scoring team in the league below only the suspension-affected Essendon.[53]
| Rd | Date and local time | Opponent | Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) | Venue | Attendance | Ladder position | |||||
| Home | Away | Result | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | Thursday, 24 March | align=left | 14.8 (92) | 12.11 (83) | Lost by 9 points[54] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) | 75,706 | 12th | ||
| 2 | align=left | Sunday, 3 April | align=left | 10.11 (71) | 20.11 (131) | Lost by 60 points[55] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 33,146 | 15th | ||
| 3 | align=left | Saturday, 9 April | align=left | 13.17 (95) | 5.11 (41) | Lost by 54 points[56] | Metricon Stadium (A) | 13,885 | 17th | ||
| 4 | align=left | Saturday, 16 April | align=left | 7.7 (49) | 13.7 (85) | Lost by 36 points[57] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 27,662 | 18th | ||
| 5 | align=left | Sunday, 24 April | align=left | 9.14 (68) | 10.12 (72) | Won by 4 points[58] | Domain Stadium (A) | 34,796 | 15th | ||
| 6 | align=left | Sunday, 1 May | align=left | 10.12 (72) | 8.9 (57) | Won by 15 points[59] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 43,827 | 14th | ||
| 7 | align=left | Saturday, 7 May | align=left | 12.12 (84) | 15.9 (99) | Won by 15 points[60] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) | 60,222 | 12th | ||
| 8 | align=left | Sunday, 15 May | align=left | 14.9 (93) | 13.13 (91) | Won by 2 points[61] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 26,924 | 11th | ||
| 9 | align=left | Saturday, 21 May | align=left | 17.11 (113) | 6.10 (46) | Lost by 67 points[62] | Etihad Stadium (A) | 38,419 | 12th | ||
| 10 | align=left | Sunday, 29 May | align=left | 16.8 (104) | 12.13 (85) | Won by 19 points[63] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 33,535 | 11th | ||
| 11 | align=left | Saturday, 4 June | align=left | 16.6 (102) | 9.10 (64) | Won by 38 points[64] | Etihad Stadium (H) | 30,722 | 10th | ||
| 12 | align=left | Sunday, 12 June | align=left | 17.8 (110) | 12.6 (78) | Lost by 32 points[65] | Etihad Stadium (A) | 47,945 | 11th | ||
| 13 | Bye | 11th | |||||||||
| 14 | align=left | Saturday, 25 June | align=left | GWS | 18.19 (127) | 9.11 (65) | Lost by 62 points[66] | Spotless Stadium (A) | 10,355 | 13th | |
| 15 | align=left | Saturday, 2 July | align=left | 6.9 (45) | 8.9 (57) | Lost by 12 points[67] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 56,157 | 14th | ||
| 16 | align=left | Sunday, 10 July | align=left | 7.5 (47) | 16.11 (107) | Lost by 60 points[68] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 32,430 | 14th | ||
| 17 | align=left | Sunday, 17 July | align=left | 11.9 (75) | 12.10 (82) | Lost by 7 points[69] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 26,389 | 14th | ||
| 18 | align=left | Saturday, 23 July | align=left | 10.14 (74) | 10.8 (68) | Lost by 6 points[70] | Sydney Cricket Ground (A) | 31,765 | 14th | ||
| 19 | align=left | Saturday, 30 July | align=left | 10.14 (74) | 7.13 (55) | Lost by 19 points[71] | Aurora Stadium (A) | 18,112 | 15th | ||
| 20 | align=left | Sunday, 7 August | align=left | 7.9 (51) | 19.8 (122) | Lost by 71 points[72] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 37,797 | 15th | ||
| 21 | align=left | Saturday, 13 August | align=left | 15.9 (99) | 13.17 (95) | Lost by 4 points[73] | Gabba (A) | 17,432 | 15th | ||
| 22 | align=left | Sunday, 21 August | align=left | 11.12 (78) | 7.16 (58) | Won by 20 points[74] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) | 40,693 | 14th | ||
| 23 | align=left | Saturday, 27 August | align=left | 15.13 (103) | 10.19 (79) | Lost by 24 points[75] | Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) | 46,566 | 14th | ||
The Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest awards night took place on 9 September. The John Nicholls Medal, for the best and fairest player of the club, as well as several other awards, were presented on the night.[77]
| Pos. | Player | Votes | |||
| 1st | Sam Docherty | 179 | |||
| 2nd | Kade Simpson | 169 | |||
| 3rd | Patrick Cripps | 168 | |||
| 4th | Bryce Gibbs | 149 | |||
| 5th | Ed Curnow | 115 | |||
| 6th | Sam Rowe | 114 | |||
| Matthew Wright | |||||
| 8th | Zach Tuohy | 93 | |||
| 9th | Matthew Kreuzer | 83 | |||
| 10th | Sam Kerridge | 82 |
Matthew Wright was Carlton's leading goalkicker for the season in his first season for the club after crossing from Adelaide. His tally of 22 goals was the fewest to lead Carlton's goalkicking since Ian Nankervis' leading tally of 18 goals in 1964.[83]
| Player | width=5% | Goals | width=5% | Behinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 6 | |||
| 18 | 18 | |||
| 18 | 12 | |||
| 17 | 8 | |||
| 16 | 10 |
The Carlton Football Club had a full affiliation with the Northern Blues during the 2016 season. It was the fourteenth season of the clubs' affiliation, which had been in place since 2003. Carlton senior- and rookie-listed players who were not selected to play in the Carlton team were eligible to play for either the Northern Blues seniors or reserves team in the Victorian Football League. The club's nine home matches were split with five matches at the VFL club's traditional home ground Preston City Oval, and four matches at Carlton's traditional home ground Ikon Park.[91] The Northern Blues finished 13th out of 15 in the VFL with a record of 6–12.[92]