2021 Carlton Football Club season

Carlton Football Club
2021 season
PresidentMark LoGiudice
Luke Sayers
CoachDavid Teague
Captain(s)Patrick Cripps
Sam Docherty
Home groundMelbourne Cricket Ground
(Training and administrative: Ikon Park)
AFL season13th (8–14)
AFL Women's7th (5–4)
Leading goalkickerHarry McKay (58)
Darcy Vescio (16)
Club membership81,302
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 158th season of competition.

It was the club's men's team's 125th season as a member of the Australian Football League. The team finished 13th out of eighteen teams with an 8–14 record in the 2021 AFL season – two positions lower than in the 2020 season, ultimately resulting in the sacking of coach David Teague at the end of the season.

It was the club's women's team's fifth season as a member of the AFL Women's competition. The team narrowly missed the finals for the 2021 AFL Women's season, finishing 7th with a record of 5–4.

Individually, Carlton players won the leading goalkicker awards in both the men's and women's senior competitions: Harry McKay winning the Coleman Medal with 58 goals, and Darcy Vescio winning their second leading goalkicker award with 16 goals.

The club also fielded its men's reserves team in the Victorian Football League for the first time since 2002, and fielded a women's team in the VFL Women's competition.

Club summary

The 2021 AFL season will be the 125th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it will also be the 125th season contested by the Carlton Football Club.

Contractually, Carlton's primary home ground will continue to be the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with many games also to have been played at Marvel Stadium, and traditional home ground Ikon Park to serve as the training and administrative base. The club fielded its women's team in the fifth season of the AFL Women's competition, and Ikon Park served as the home ground for AFL Women's matches. Restrictions associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant that crowds were often restricted to well short of the grounds' maximum capacities.

Carlton terminated its alignment with the Northern Blues in the Victorian Football League in March 2020 as a cost-saving measure during the coronavirus pandemic; and will re-establish its reserves team for the first time since 2002, which will contest its fourth overall season in the VFL.[1]

Car manufacturer Hyundai, which had been a major sponsor of the club continuously since 2008,[2] continued its partnership with the club through the season. Airline Virgin Australia, which had upgraded from a secondary sponsor to a major sponsor during the 2017 season,[3] but was struggling owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, continued as the second major sponsor until mid-season;[4] they were then replaced as major sponsor by Great Southern Bank (just recently rebranded from Credit Union Australia), who took on the major co-partner role in a three-year deal.[5]

For the fourth consecutive season, the club set a new membership record, surpassing the 2020 total of 67,035 members on 1 February, and finishing with 81,302 members.[6] The club became debt-free for the first time since financing the construction of Ikon Park's Legends' Stand in 1996, having cleared $7 million in debt since 2017, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The club also ceased to accept financial assistance from the AFL.[7]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The season was played during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the season began, Australia had largely settled into a paradigm of most states maintaining zero COVID-19 cases outside of their international travel quarantine systems; this allowed football games to be played in front of crowds, usually with reduced capacity, and unhindered interstate travel was permitted without quarantine. However, the different state governments often responded quickly to small numbers or even single virus cases being discovered in the community; this meant border restrictions or quarantine periods were at times re-introduced at short notice, impacting interstate travel for games; and, in some cases, that city- or state-wide lockdowns could be imposed within the impacted states,[8] precluding football activities altogether.

Direct, short notice impact to Carlton's senior seasons as a result of the pandemic were:

  • During the Victorian 13–17 February snap lockdown, the women's team's Round 3 match was closed to spectators at one day's notice;[9]
  • During the Victorian snap lockdown which began on 28 May, the men's team's departed Victoria three days ahead of its normal schedule for its Round 11 match against Sydney in Sydney;[10] the team then remained in Sydney for the following week and played its Round 12 home game there at the neutral Sydney Cricket Ground against West Coast instead of at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[11]
  • As a result of Perth becoming a hot zone in late June, the men's team's away game against Fremantle was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[12]
  • Lockdowns and ongoing restrictions in Victoria saw men's matches from Round 18 onwards closed to spectators.

Senior personnel

Mark Lo Giudice continued in his final season as club president, a role he had held for a total of almost eight years since mid-2014. Lo Giudice's replacement, club director and former PriceWaterhouseCoopers CEO Luke Sayers, was announced in April with the pair to prepare for the transition during the year.[13] As part of the transition, and in response to the club's weaker than expected start to the season, Lo Giudice commissioned a review of the club's football department, which was conducted by Sayers, CEO Cain Liddle, and external panel members Matthew Pavlich, Geoff Walsh and Graham Lowe,[14] from which followed substantial changes to the club's administration and football department in 2021. Sayers officially took over on August 17, 2021, one round before the end of the season.[15]

David Teague continued in his second full season as appointed senior coach, having also served a half-season as caretaker in 2019. The coaching panel was reduced in size as a result of seeking cost savings and meeting the AFL's soft spending cap due to the coronavirus pandemic, which saw head of coaching performance Henry Playfair,[16] former Northern Blues senior head coach Josh Fraser,[17] development coach Jason Davenport,[18] and specialist coaches Saverio Rocca, Hamish McIntosh and Greg Williams were all made redundant.[19] Added to the club's coaching panel in the new development role as leader of the Carlton College of Sport Development Program and Carlton Academy coach was former Western Jets and Hawthorn development coach Torin Baker.[20] Long serving assistant coach John Barker, who had also served as caretaker senior coach for part of the 2015 season, departed the club in June after 10½ years, a few months earlier than his originally planned departure at the end of the season.[21]

Squad for 2021

The following is Carlton's squad for the 2021 season.

Statistics are correct as of end of 2020 season. Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football.

Senior List
No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2020) 2021 Player Statistics
Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO
1 Victoria (state) Jack Silvagni 23 2016 Oakleigh (U18) 63 47 15 9 13 200 130 70 70 38 17
2 Victoria (state) Paddy Dow 21 2018 Bendigo (U18) 42 15 17 4 2 242 95 147 28 39 0
3 Victoria (state) Marc Murphy (lg) 33 2006 Oakleigh (U18) 285 189 15 8 4 191 115 76 47 24 0
4 Victoria (state) Lochie O'Brien 21 2018 Bendigo (U18) 36 10 5 1 3 80 49 31 20 9 0
5 Western Australia Sam Petrevski-Seton 22 2017 Claremont 80 19 14 1 3 198 134 64 56 26 0
6 New South Wales Zac Williams 26 2013 GWS Academy, GWS 113 27 14 5 4 264 201 63 55 54 0
8 Victoria (state) Lachie Fogarty 21 2018 Western (U18), Geelong 23 6 17 6 6 246 139 107 57 62 0
9 Western Australia Patrick Cripps (c) 25 2014 East Fremantle 118 54 20 13 11 468 163 305 63 85 3
10 Victoria (state) Harry McKay 23 2017 Gippsland (U18) 48 71 19 58 33 185 154 31 113 27 6
11 Western Australia Mitch McGovern 26 2016 Claremont, Adelaide 76 98 5 6 4 56 42 14 24 13 0
12 Victoria (state) Tom de Koning 21 2018 Dandenong (U18) 9 1 13 7 4 123 81 42 40 27 219
13 Victoria (state) Liam Stocker 20 2019 Sandringham (U18) 5 0 17 2 1 238 163 75 58 37 0
14 Tasmania Liam Jones (lg) 29 2010 North Hobart, Western Bulldogs 142 84 19 0 1 219 178 41 105 19 0
15 Victoria (state) Sam Docherty (c) 27 2013 Gippsland (U18), Brisbane Lions 108 14 14 0 0 340 252 88 107 31 0
16 Western Australia Jack Carroll 18 – East Fremantle – – – – – – – – – – –
17 Victoria (state) Brodie Kemp 19 2021 Bendigo (U18) – – 2 0 0 19 14 5 8 3 0
18 Victoria (state) Sam Walsh (lg) 20 2019 Geelong (U18) 39 14 22 12 6 656 298 358 127 100 0
20 Victoria (state) Lachie Plowman 26 2013 Calder (U18), GWS 110 1 19 1 0 219 160 59 85 20 0
21 Western Australia Jack Martin 25 2014 Claremont, Gold Coast 112 93 11 8 6 140 94 46 61 26 0
22 Victoria (state) Caleb Marchbank 24 2015 Murray (U18), GWS 48 0 – – – – – – – – –
23 Victoria (state) Jacob Weitering (lg) 23 2016 Dandenong (U18) 93 10 22 0 1 361 301 60 167 29 2
24 Victoria (state) Nic Newman 27 2017 Frankston, Sydney 53 14 14 0 1 275 199 76 86 54 0
25 Western Australia Zac Fisher 22 2017 Perth 63 27 10 4 8 159 85 74 23 24 0
27 Victoria (state) Marc Pittonet 24 2016 Oakleigh (U18), Hawthorn 20 0 13 5 5 147 67 80 26 28 379
28 Victoria (state) David Cuningham 23 2016 Oakleigh (U18) 37 20 4 1 0 54 26 28 9 6 0
29 South Australia Corey Durdin 18 2021 Central District – – 2 1 0 8 4 4 2 4 0
30 Victoria (state) Charlie Curnow 23 2016 Geelong (U18) 58 77 4 2 5 49 35 14 16 6 0
31 Victoria (state) Tom Williamson 23 2017 North Ballarat (U18) 32 2 11 2 3 124 83 41 43 16 0
32 Victoria (state) Jack Newnes 27 2012 Northern (U18) 172 68 19 4 9 312 188 124 93 34 0
33 Victoria (state) Sam Ramsay 19 — Calder (U18) – – – – – – – – – – –
34 Victoria (state) Sam Philp 19 2020 Northern (U18) 2 1 – – – – – – – – –
35 Victoria (state) Ed Curnow (lg) 31 2011 Geelong (U18), Adelaide, Box Hill 182 40 22 10 3 496 318 178 106 80 0
40 Victoria (state) Michael Gibbons 25 2019 Williamstown 36 27 11 8 5 156 98 58 39 27 0
41 Victoria (state) Levi Casboult 30 2012 Dandenong (U18) 141 148 13 8 5 111 77 34 47 25 79
42 Victoria (state) Adam Saad 26 2015 Calder (U18), Coburg, Gold Coast, Essendon 109 8 22 2 6 424 311 113 72 39 0
43 Victoria (state) Will Setterfield 22 2017 Sandringham (U18), GWS 36 10 8 1 6 124 74 50 35 17 0
Rookie List
No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2020) 2021 Player Statistics
Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO
7 New South Wales Matthew Kennedy 23 2016 Collingullie-Glenfield Park, GWS 48 23 13 6 2 239 138 101 60 54 0
19 Victoria (state) Eddie Betts 34 2005 Calder (U18), Adelaide 331 613 19 27 16 180 121 59 42 31 0
26 New South Wales Luke Parks 19 2021 Sydney Academy, Glenelg – – 6 0 0 45 30 15 12 12 0
36 Victoria (state) Josh Honey 19 2020 Western (U18) 1 0 5 6 3 36 24 12 13 6 0
37 Victoria (state) Jordan Boyd 22 – Western (U18), Footscray reserves – – – – – – – – – – –
39 Victoria (state) Oscar McDonald 24 2015 North Ballarat (U18), Melbourne 81 1 3 2 1 9 8 1 3 2 0
44 Victoria (state) Matthew Owies 23 2020 St Kevin's, Seattle Redhawks 1 0 13 15 17 115 69 46 43 38 0
45 Victoria (state) Alex Mirkov 21 – Carlton reserves – – – – – – – – – – –
46 Victoria (state) Matthew Cottrell 20 2020 Dandenong (U18) 5 2 14 3 2 165 118 47 37 31 0
Senior coaching panel[22]
State Coach Coaching position Carlton Coaching debut Former clubs as coach
Victoria (state) David Teague Senior coach 2008 Carlton (d), Northern Bullants (s), West Coast (a), St Kilda (a), Adelaide (a)
Victoria (state) Luke Power Head of development
Assistant coach (stoppages)(from Round 12)		 2020 GWS (a), AFL Academy Manager
Victoria (state) John Barker
(until Round 12)		 Assistant coach (stoppages) 2011 St Kilda (a), Hawthorn (a)
Victoria (state) Cameron Bruce Assistant coach (forward) 2018 Hawthorn (a)
Victoria (state) Dale Amos Assistant coach (defence) 2016 South Barwon (s), Geelong (a), Geelong reserves (s)
Victoria (state) Daniel O'Keefe Development coach (Midfield), Reserves coach 2020 Geelong Falcons (s), Geelong reserves (a)
Victoria (state) Brent Stanton Development coach (Midfield and transition) 2018
Victoria (state) Torin Baker Carlton College of Sport and Academy coach 2021 Western Jets (s), Hawthorn (d)
  • For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes vice-captain, (dvc) denotes deputy vice-captain, (lg) denotes leadership group.
  • For coaches: (s) denotes senior coach, (cs) denotes caretaker senior coach, (a) denotes assistant coach, (d) denotes development coach, (m) denotes managerial or administrative role in a football or coaching department

Playing list changes

The following summarises all player changes which occurred after the 2020 season. Unless otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2020 National Draft.

The club lost two of its four most experienced players to retirement at the end of 2020: Kade Simpson retired after 18 seasons and 342 games, the third most in club history; and Matthew Kreuzer retired after 13 seasons and 189 games, having missed all but the first match in 2020 with injury.

In

Player Former Club League via
New South Wales Zac Williams GWS AFL Restricted free agent signing; GWS received a first round draft pick as compensation.[23]
Victoria (state) Lachie Fogarty Geelong AFL AFL trade period, received along with a second-round draft selection (provisionally No. 38), in exchange for a higher second-round draft selection and a third-round draft selection (provisionally No. 30 and 51 respectively)[24]
Victoria (state) Adam Saad Essendon AFL AFL trade period, received along with a third-round draft selection and a fourth-round draft selection (provisionally No. 48 and 78), in exchange for a first-round draft selection and a fifth-round draft selection (provisionally No. 8 and 87)[25]
South Australia Corey Durdin Central District SANFL AFL National Draft, second round selection (No. 37 overall)
Western Australia Jack Carroll East Fremantle WAFL AFL National Draft, second round selection (No. 41 overall)
New South Wales Luke Parks Glenelg SANFL AFL Rookie Draft, first round selection (No. 8 overall)
Victoria (state) Oscar McDonald Melbourne AFL Pre-season supplemental selection period.[26]
Victoria (state) Alex Mirkov Carlton reserves VFL Mid-season draft, first round selection (No. 6 overall).[27]
Victoria (state) Jordan Boyd Footscray reserves VFL Mid-season draft, second round selection (No. 20 overall).[28]

Out

Player New Club League via
Victoria (state) Matthew Kreuzer Retired[29]
Victoria (state) Kade Simpson Retired[30]
Victoria (state) Darcy Lang Waratah[31] NTFL Delisted after the season[32]
Victoria (state) Ben Silvagni Northern Bullants[33] VFL Delisted after the season[32]
Victoria (state) Finbar O'Dwyer Northern Bullants[33] VFL Delisted after the season[32]
Victoria (state) Hugh Goddard University Blues[34] VAFA Delisted from the rookie list after the season[32]
New South Wales Harrison Macreadie Williamstown[35] VFL Delisted after the trade period[36]
Victoria (state) Cameron Polson Williamstown[35] VFL Delisted after the trade period[36]
Victoria (state) Fraser Phillips Carlton reserves[37] VFL Delisted from the rookie list after the trade period[32]
Victoria (state) Callum Moore Wangaratta[38] O&MFL Delisted from the rookie list after the trade period.[32] He remained on the club's train-on list through the offseason but was not recruited back to the senior list afterwards.

List management

Player Change
Victoria (state) Michael Gibbons Elevated from the rookie list to the senior list.[39]
New South Wales Matthew Kennedy Demoted from the senior list to the rookie list.[36]
Victoria (state) Eddie Betts Demoted from the senior list to the rookie list.[40]
Victoria (state) Zavier Maher
Victoria (state) Oscar McDonald
Victoria (state) Callum Moore		 All three players received permission to train with Carlton during the 2021 pre-season ahead of the supplemental selection period;[41] McDonald was ultimately added to the club's list.

Season summary

Pre-season

The club played two full-length practice matches in the lead-up to the season. The match against St Kilda was scheduled as part of the 2021 AAMI Community Series, and the match against Essendon was arranged between the clubs and played behind closed doors but was live streamed on the club website.

Date and local time Opponent Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) Venue Attendance
Home Away Result
Thursday, 25 February (11:00 am) Essendon 14.11 (95) 11.8 (74) Won by 21 points[42] Ikon Park (H) Closed
Thursday, 4 March (7:10 pm) St Kilda 15.9 (99) 19.11 (125) Lost by 26 points[43] Marvel Stadium (H) 10,228

Premiership season

Following improvements to 11th place under Teague in 2020, Carlton was expected to continue its improvement in 2021 and at the start of the season was considered an outside chance of playing finals.[44] The first half of the season prior to the midseason bye fell short of those expectations, with the clubs sitting 14th with a 4–8 record – avoiding any big losses with a heaviest defeat of only 28 points, but also unable to record any victories against top eight opponents – the closest chance coming against the Western Bulldogs in Round 8, when the team led by 27 points in the third quarter before conceding eight consecutive goals and losing by 16 points. During the mid-season bye, the club's football department review was announced. The second half of the season proceeded similarly, with a 4–6 from the last ten games, but suffering more heavy defeats including a 95-point loss to Port Adelaide in Round 22, the club's heaviest loss since 2018. The club still maintained a mathematical chance of making finals until Round 22, but ultimately finished 13th with an 8–14 record.

Carlton's formline was erratic. The club had a 0–9 record against the top seven teams. It was 4–2 against the teams placed between 8th and 12th, with its Round 7 win against eighth-placed Essendon serving as its highest placed defeated opponent for the year. Against teams placed 14th to 18th, Carlton's record was only 4–3, suffering one loss against each of the bottom three teams (Gold Coast, Collingwood and North Melbourne).

Season
Rd Date and local time Opponent Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) Venue Attendance Ladder
Home Away Result
1 Thursday, 18 March (7:25 pm) Richmond 15.15 (105) 11.14 (80) Lost by 25 points[45] Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) 49,218 14th
2 Thursday, 25 March (7:20 pm) Collingwood 13.7 (85) 16.10 (106) Lost by 21 points[46] Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) 51,723 15th
3 Sunday, 4 April (3:20 pm) Fremantle 16.13 (109) 9.10 (64) Won by 45 points[47] Marvel Stadium (H) 24,551 12th
4 Saturday, 10 April (7:25 pm) Gold Coast 8.11 (59) 9.16 (70) Won by 11 points[48] Metricon Stadium (A) 11,618 7th
5 Saturday, 17 April (7:25 pm) Port Adelaide 9.14 (68) 14.12 (96) Lost by 28 points[49] Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) 32,893 11th
6 Saturday, 24 April (4:35 pm) Brisbane 12.13 (85) 15.13 (103) Lost by 18 points[50] Marvel Stadium (H) 29,576 13th
7 Sunday, 2 May (3:20 pm) Essendon 16.11 (107) 19.9 (123) Won by 16 points[51] Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) 57,447 12th
8 Sunday, 9 May (3:20pm) Western Bulldogs 16.11 (107) 13.13 (91) Lost by 16 points[52] Marvel Stadium (A) 27,663 13th
9 Sunday, 16 May (3:20pm) Melbourne 13.16 (94) 10.8 (68) Lost by 26 points[53] Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) 38,581 13th
10 Saturday, 22 May (1:45pm) Hawthorn 13.8 (86) 9.9 (63) Won by 23 points[54] Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) 45,741 12th
11 Sunday, 30 May (3:20pm) Sydney 15.10 (100) 11.12 (78) Lost by 22 points[55] Sydney Cricket Ground (A) 29,822 13th
12 Sunday, 6 June (3:20pm) West Coast 10.13 (73) 14.11 (95) Lost by 22 points[56] Sydney Cricket Ground (H) 5,137 14th
13 Bye 14th
14 Saturday, 19 June (7:25 pm) GWS 16.6 (102) 9.12 (66) Lost by 36 points[57] GIANTS Stadium (A) 7,035 14th
15 Sunday, 27 June (4:10 pm) Adelaide 12.11 (83) 10.13 (73) Won by 10 points[58] Marvel Stadium (H) 14,930 13th
16 Saturday, 3 July (7:40 pm) Fremantle 8.16 (64) 12.8 (80) Won by 16 points[59] Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) 12,103 13th
17 Saturday, 10 July (4:35pm) Geelong 5.14 (44) 10.10 (70) Lost by 26 points[60] Melbourne Cricket Ground (H) 31,834 13th
18 Sunday, 18 July (3:20 pm) Collingwood 9.8 (62) 13.13 (91) Won by 29 points[61] Melbourne Cricket Ground (A) Closed 13th
19 Saturday, 24 July (1:45pm) North Melbourne 11.11 (77) 18.8 (116) Lost by 39 points[62] Marvel Stadium (H) Closed 13th
20 Friday, 30 July (7:50 pm) St Kilda 12.9 (81) 18.4 (112) Won by 31 points[63] Marvel Stadium (A) Closed 12th
21 Saturday, 7 August (1:45pm) Gold Coast 8.9 (57) 11.10 (76) Lost by 19 points[64] Marvel Stadium (H) Closed 13th
22 Saturday, 14 August (4:05pm) Port Adelaide 21.14 (140) 5.15 (45) Lost by 95 points[65] Adelaide Oval (A) 13,943 13th
23 Saturday, 21 August (7:40pm) GWS 11.9 (75) 12.17 (89) Lost by 14 points[66] Marvel Stadium (H) Closed 13th

Individual awards

John Nicholls Medal

The Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest awards night took place on 14 October 2021, taking place as a virtual event due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.[67]

John Nicholls Medal

The winner of the John Nicholls Medal was Sam Walsh, who polled 183 votes to win the award for the first time in his career. 2020 winner Jacob Weitering finished second, polling 172 votes; and Harry McKay finished third with 118 votes.[67]

Pos.
 Player
 Votes
1st Sam Walsh 183
2nd Jacob Weitering 172
3rd Harry McKay 118
4th Patrick Cripps 112
5th Ed Curnow 100
6th Adam Saad 97
7th Lachie Plowman 86
8th Liam Jones 80
9th Eddie Betts 75
10th Jack Silvagni 71
Other awards

The following other awards were presented on John Nicholls Medal night:-[67]

  • Best Young Player – Liam Stocker
  • Best Clubman – Marc Pittonet
  • Spirit of Carlton Award – Jack Silvagni
  • Bill Lanyon Inner Blue Ruthless Award – Sam Walsh
  • Carltonians William A. Cook Award – Sam Walsh
  • Coaches' Award – Jacob Weitering
  • Most Valuable Bluebagger Award – Jacob Weitering

Leading goalkickers

Harry McKay won both the Coleman Medal as the league's leading goalkicker in the home-and-away season, and Carlton's leading goalkicker, kicking 58 goals.[68] His tally of 58 goals was the most by any Carlton player in a season since Brendan Fevola kicked 89 goals in 2009, which was also club's most recent previous Coleman Medal. It was McKay's first Coleman Medal, and was achieved despite playing only 19 of 22 games. He held a ten-goal lead when his season ended due to injury with two rounds remaining, and ultimately won by four goals from Tom Hawkins (Geelong) on 54 goals.

Small forwards Eddie Betts and Matthew Owies occupied the next two positions – the former in his final season, and the latter in his breakout season – followed by midfielders Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh.

Player Goals Behinds
Harry McKay 58 33
Eddie Betts 27 16
Matthew Owies 15 17
Patrick Cripps 13 11
Sam Walsh 12 6

Other awards

Honorific teams
  • All-Australian team – two Carlton players – Sam Walsh and Harry McKay – were named in the 2021 All-Australian team, both receiving the honour for the first times in their careers.[69] Jacob Weitering was also nominated in the 40-man squad, for the second consecutive year.[70]
  • 22under22 team – one Carlton player – Sam Walsh – was named in the 22under22 team for the 2021 season. It was Walsh's third selection, and Walsh was named captain of the team.[71]
AFLCA awards
  • Midfield assistant coach Luke Power won the AFLCA Assistant Coach of the Year award.[72]
Statistical leaders
Club records
  • Round 22 – Marc Murphy played his 300th (and final) senior game for the club, becoming the sixth player to reach the milestone for Carlton.[74]
  • Season - Jacob Weitering set a new club record for most rebounds in a season with 139.[75]
  • Season – Sam Walsh polled 30 votes in the Brownlow Medal, tying Greg Williams (1994) and Chris Judd (2010) for the most in a season in club history; unlike Williams and Judd, who each won their respective year, Walsh finished fourth overall and polled the most votes ever by a fourth-placed finisher.[76]
Hall of Fame

AFL Women's

Squad

Most significant among the list changes in the women's team for the 2021 season was the loss of foundation player Sarah Hosking to Richmond, and the acquisition of former Melbourne captain Elise O'Dea – both in trades.[79][80] The club's highest draft pick, No. 12, went to the recruitment of Mimi Hill.

The club's 2021 squad is given below. The number of games played and goals scored in the 2021 season is given in parentheses.[81]

Carlton Football Club (AFL Women's)
Senior list Coaching staff

Head coach


Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Updated: 20241022210643
Source(s): Senior list, Coaching staff


Season

Despite starting the season as one of the premiership favourites, Carlton underperformed across the 2021 AFLW season to finish seventh with a 5–4 record to miss the top six. Although the team was still in contention for sixth place entering the final round, this relied on a heavy victory and other results falling Carlton's way, which did not occur. Across the entire season, Carlton was 0–4 against top eight clubs – including three losses by a goal or less, two of which occurred in the opening two rounds – and 5–0 against the bottom six.

Rd Date and local time Opponent Scores (Carlton's scores indicated in bold) Venue Attendance Ladder
Home Away Result
1 Thursday, 28 January (7:15 pm) Collingwood 4.3 (27) 5.3 (33) Lost by 6 points[82] Ikon Park (H) 6,712 9th
2 Friday, 5 February (7:45 pm) Western Bulldogs 6.6 (42) 5.6 (33) Lost by 6 points[83] VU Whitten Oval (A) 3,479 9th
3 Saturday, 13 February (5:10 pm) St Kilda 2.4 (16) 6.4 (40) Won by 24 points[84] RSEA Park (A) Closed 8th
4 Saturday, 20 February (3:10 pm) Richmond 8.3 (51) 7.4 (46) Won by 5 points[85] Ikon Park (H) 2,212 8th
5 Saturday, 27 February (7:10 pm) Kangaroos 9.5 (59) 6.1 (37) Lost by 22 points[86] UTas Stadium (A) 820 8th
6 Sunday, 7 March (12:40 pm) Geelong 10.4 (64) 4.7 (31) Won by 33 points[87] Ikon Park (H) 1,764 8th
7 Sunday, 14 March (1:10 pm) Fremantle 6.5 (41) 6.9 (45) Lost by 4 points[88] Ikon Park (H) 2,048 8th
8 Friday, 19 March (5:10 pm) Gold Coast 4.3 (27) 13.9 (87) Won by 60 points[89] Metricon Stadium (A) 272 7th
9 Sunday, 28 March (4:10 pm) Greater Western Sydney 4.7 (31) 4.8 (32) Won by 1 point[90] Blacktown ISP (A) 903 7th
Notable events
  • In Round 8 against Gold Coast, Carlton set a new record for the highest score by any team in an AFLW match, 13.9 (87); the score broke the Western Bulldogs' 2018 record of 12.14 (86), and stood until broken in Round 8, 2022. The 60-point winning margin and Darcy Vescio's five goals in the match both set records as the highest in Carlton's AFLW history.[89][91]
League awards
Club Awards

Reserves

Carlton fielded reserves teams in the men's and women's competitions during the 2021 season.

Men's

After having an eighteen season reserves alignment with the Northern Bullants\Blues club in the Victorian Football League, Carlton terminated the agreement in March 2020 as a cost-saving measure during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the club re-established its own reserves team for the first time since 2002.[1] The reserves team contested its fourth VFL season, having previously contested the 2000–2002 seasons; and its 85th overall season of reserves and state level competition dating back to 1919.

Daniel O'Keefe, who had joined the club as a development coach in 2020, took the role as the reserves coach. New players signed to the club's VFL list included former AFL players James Parsons (Geelong), Ben Crocker (Adelaide/Collingwood)[96] and Ryley Stoddart (Sydney); former AFL-listed players Fraser Phillips (Carlton), Tom North (Fremantle), Harry Reynolds (Sydney), Cody Hirst (Sydney), Will Golds (Hawthorn) and Toby Wooller (Brisbane);[97][37] as well as Alex Cincotta, Daniel Guccione, Cooper Stephens, Stefan Radovanovic, Lachie Potter, Aaron Gundry, Lachie Bond, Edward Delany, Matt Shannon, Dale Marshall, Lachie Swaney, Ben Caluzzi, Lachlan Gawel, Owen King, Zane Barzen, Ben Nikolovski[98][37] and Alex Mirkov, who was added to the club's senior list during the mid-season draft.[27] Stoddart and Shannon served as co-captains of the team.[99]

In a planned sixteen-game season which was repeatedly interrupted and ultimately curtailed by COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns, the team played only nine home-and-away matches for a 4–5 record, finishing 12th out of 22 teams.[100] Ben Crocker, who kicked 29 goals for the year, won the reserves' best and fairest.[101]

Women's

The club fielded a team in the VFL Women's competition for the third time, after the competition's one-year hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic. The scheduling of the competition shifted in 2021, now running concurrently with the AFL Women's season rather than after it, meaning that the team will function as a reserves team, rather than a senior team at state level.[102][103] The team finished eighth out of twelve teams, with a win–loss record of 6–8 to miss the finals by one win and percentage.[104]

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