The 2024 Carlton Football Club season is the Carlton Football Club's 161st season of competition.
It was the club's men's team's 128th season as a member of the Australian Football League, and the third under senior coach Michael Voss. A strong first half of the season which saw Carlton second on the ladder as late as round 20, before a decline in late season form saw Carlton almost miss the final eight, qualifying in eighth with a 13–10 record on the final day of the home-and-away season. Carlton finished eighth overall with an elimination final loss. Captain Patrick Cripps won his second second Brownlow Medal as league best and fairest, polling a record high 45 votes to win the award.
The club's women's team contested its ninth season in the AFL Women's, finishing 14th with a 4–7 record to miss the finals. The club also fielded its men's reserves team in the Victorian Football League and its state level women's team in the VFL Women's, failing to reach the finals in either competition.
Club summary
The 2024 AFL season was the 128th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 128th season contested by the Carlton Football Club. The club fielded its women's team in the ninth season of the AFL Women's competition, and fielded its men's reserves team in its seventh Victorian Football League season, and its VFL women's team in its sixth VFL Women's season.
As in 2023, Carlton's primary home ground was Marvel Stadium and secondary home ground was the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the team playing six home games at the former and five at the latter.[1] Traditional home ground Ikon Park continued to serve as the training and administrative base, and as the home ground for AFL Women's and the men's reserves matches.
Car manufacturer Hyundai, which had been a major sponsor of the club continuously since 2008,[2] and Great Southern Bank, which became a major sponsor during the 2021 season, continued as the club's major sponsors through the 2024 season;[3] in March, Great Southern Bank signed an extension to its major sponsorship of the club through until the end of 2027.[4] The club set another new club record membership tally for the season, exceeding 2023's record of 95,277 in early April, making it the seventh consecutive season that a new club record membership had been set;[5] the final membership tally was 106,345, the second-highest tally in the league behind only Collingwood.[6] The club returned a statutory profit of $3.0 million, aided by league-high online merchanise sales and a league-high average home attendance of 58,311.[7]
Senior personnel
Luke Sayers continued in his third year as president, Brian Cook in his third year as CEO, and Michael Voss in his third year as senior coach of the club. Prior to the season, Cook and Voss signed contract extensions to remain at the club until the end of 2025 and 2026 respectively.[8]Patrick Cripps continued in his third year as sole club captain and sixth year overall (having served as co-captain with Sam Docherty for three years). The number of vice-captains was increased from two to three to make up the broader leadership group, with Charlie Curnow appointed a new vice captain, and Jacob Weitering and Sam Walsh continuing in the role.[9] The coaching panel was mostly steady from 2023, the only change being former player Jordan Russell joining as the forward line assistant coach, with Ashley Hansen promoted to senior assistant coach.[10]
Squad for 2024
The following is Carlton's squad for the 2024 season.
For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes vice-captain.
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 2023 season. Unless otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2023 national draft.
Between seasons, Carlton saw the retirements of two long-term players: Ed Curnow, after thirteen seasons and 221 games; and Lachie Plowman after eight seasons and 125 games. Fringe midfielders Zac Fisher and Paddy Dow requested and were granted trades after seven and six years with the club respectively, seeking greater opportunities in other clubs' midfields. The club also traded for former top ten draft pick Elijah Hollands – brother of second-year player Oliver – from Gold Coast.
Trade period, along with a second-round selection (provisionally No. 28) and a fourth-round selection in the 2024 AFL draft#2024 national draft, in exchange for a higher second-round selection (provisionally No. 25) and Essendon's third-round selection in the 2024 national draft.[14]
Trade period, along with a first-round selection (provisionally No. 17), in exchange for a lower first-round selection and a second-round selection (provisionally No. 21 and 25).[26]
Trade period, in a four-way trade which saw Carlton give up Dow and its third-round and fourth-round selections in the 2024 national draft to St Kilda and Essendon respectively, in exchange for Essendon's third-round selection and Western Bulldogs' and Fremantle's fourth-round selections in the 2024 national draft.[27]
Carlton announced Duffy's recruitment from Longford GAA as a Category B rookie signing in August 2023;[13] but after he suffered a knee injury suffered playing Gaelic football in November 2023, his start was deferred by a year and he was left off the 2024 list.[30]
Season summary
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.
Following Carlton's strong second half to the 2023 season, Carlton was widely predicted to be a finalist in 2024[33][34] and opened the season fourth-favourite for the premiership.[35] The season opened well with four straight wins – including although two were against eventual bottom-four opponents, before four losses in six weeks saw Carlton drop to tenth place.
Through May and June, Carlton put together a very strong five-game winning streak – including big wins against eventual top four clubs Port Adelaide and Geelong – which saw the club move to second place on the ladder with a six-point advantage over third. Through this period, Carlton was near the top of the league for pressure applied and points scored, and efficiency inside forward 50, and was considered a strong threat to Sydney (which at that stage was a runaway leader on the ladder) for premiership favouritism.[36]
However, the final two months saw a drop in form, the club winning only two of its last eight games – and those wins coming against bottom-three teams North Melbourne and West Coast. This included losing against top-four opponents GWS and Port Adelaide despite holding a five-goal lead in the second quarter of each game;[37][38] and a three-point loss against Collingwood after Mitch McGovern missed an after the siren 45m set shot.[39]
In round 22, Carlton dropped out of the top eight after the big percentage advantage it had over Hawthorn in a disastrous loss which blew out to 74 points as match day injuries saw Carlton play most of the second half with no fit interchanges.[40] With a league-high 17-man injury list,[41] Carlton regained eighth place with a win against West Coast in the penultimate round. This set up a final round in which Carlton need to defeat St Kilda in the Sunday afternoon game, or see Port Adelaide defeat Fremantle in the Sunday evening game, to hold eighth place: against St Kilda, after trailing by as much as 20 points in the third quarter, Carlton took the lead entering time-on in the final quarter, before St Kilda's Jack Higgins snapped a goal with only 12 seconds remaining to secure a two-point win for St Kilda;[42] but Carlton's position in eighth place was secured when Port Adelaide won a close game against Fremantle, kicking three late goals to win by 20 points.[43]
Across the entirety of the season, Carlton was the fourth-highest scoring team but also conceded the fifth-most points; this was a significant shift from its 2023 structure when it was ninth for points scored but conceded the second fewest, and was particularly put down to a decline in midfield defensive pressure which saw opponents able to score heavily from stoppages.[44] Overall, across what was an unusually even home-and-away season in which only the bottom four clubs failed to reach at least an 11–12 record, Carlton was 4–4 in eight matches against the top five, 4–5 in ten matches against the clubs who finished 6th to 14th (who all won between eleven and fourteen games), and 5–1 against the bottom four.
The pre-finals bye allowed Carlton the chance to get six players back from its late-season injury list.[63] Carlton was thoroughly beaten early in the elimination final by eventual premiers Brisbane, at one stage leading 9.6 (60) to 0.0 (0) before Carlton's first score late in the second quarter; five goals in a row brought the margin back to about five goals midway through the third quarter, but Carlton couldn't bring the margin much closer than that and lost by 28 points.[64]
Opening round – Carlton trailed Brisbane Lions by 46 points halfway through the second quarter, before recovering to lead at three-quarter time and ultimately win by one point.[45] It was the greatest in-game deficit Carlton had overcome for victory since 2007, and the second greatest in club history.[65]
Opening round – Carlton's win against Brisbane ended Brisbane's 14-game home winning streak at the Gabba.[45]
Opening round – Carlton defeated Brisbane at the Gabba for the first time since round 9, 2013, ending an 8-game losing streak.[45]
Round 22, 2023 to Round 1 2024 – Carlton went through a streak of six consecutive victories (in non-consecutive matches) by six points or fewer, the longest such streak in VFL/AFL history.[66]
Elimination final – Carlton failed to score until the 25th minute of the second quarter, which was the 57th minute of play. It was the deepest into a game that any club had been held scoreless in a match since at least 2001 (which is as far back as detailed minute-by-minute scoring records are available).[67]
Individual awards and records
John Nicholls Medal
The Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest awards night took place on 6 October 2024.[68]
John Nicholls Medal
The winner of the John Nicholls Medal was Patrick Cripps, who polled 204 votes to win the award for the fifth time in his career, tying the eponymous John Nicholls for the most best and fairest awards in the club's history. Nic Newman finished second for the second consecutive season with 148 votes, just ahead of Sam Walsh who was third with 147 votes.[68]
Bill Lanyon Inner Blue Ruthless Award – Patrick Cripps
Carltonians William A. Cook Award – Patrick Cripps
Coaches' Award – George Hewitt
Players' Award – Patrick Cripps
Interstate Coterie Award – Nic Newman
Brownlow Medal
Patrick Cripps won the 2024 Brownlow Medal. He polled 45 votes to finish seven votes ahead of second-placed Nick Daicos (Collingwood). It was Cripps' second Brownlow Medal, his first having been won in 2022. He became the first player to win the award twice while playing for Carlton; Carlton's other dual-Brownlow Medallists Greg Williams and Chris Judd won their first Brownlow Medals with other clubs.
Cripps was established as Brownlow favourite during a particularly strong May and June,[69][70] and by the time of the count he was a slight but near-equal favourite over Daicos.[71] Cripps ultimately polled 45 votes to win the medal ahead of Daicos' 38 votes. It was the most dominant Brownlow Medal performance in history: Cripps and Daicos both broke the previous record for most votes under the 3–2–1 voting system, which was 36 votes held by Dustin Martin (2017) and Ollie Wines (2021); and Cripps also polled a new record of 1.96 votes per game played, breaking Lachie Neale's 2020 record of 1.82.[72]
Leading goalkickers
Charlie Curnow was the club's leading goalkicker for the third consecutive time and fourth time overall, kicking 57 goals. Curnow led in the race for a third consecutive Coleman Medal for much of the season, before falling behind eventual winner Jesse Hogan after round 21, then missing the last two matches with injury to finish second. Harry McKay was second with 49 goals; since winning the Coleman Medal in 2021, McKay had drawn heavy criticism for year on year deterioration in his goalkicking accuracy, but delivered an improved return of 49.21 after significantly reducing his use of across-the-body snaps from set shots.[73][74]Matthew Owies, in his final season with the club, was third with 33 goals, his best return for the club.
Round 10 – the match was Charlie Curnow's 57th consecutive appearance in which he scored at least one goal, breaking the Carlton Football Club record set by Harry Vallence in the 1930s.[75] The streak ultimately ended at 66 matches when he was held goalless in round 21.[76]
Other awards
Honorific teams
Two Carlton players were named in the 2024 All-Australian team: Patrick Cripps (ruck-rover), named in the team for the fourth time and named vice-captain for the second time; and Jacob Weitering (full back), named in the team for the first time after having been named in the squad but missed the final team each year from 2020 to 2023.[77] Two other Carlton players were nominated in the 44-man squad but not in the final team: Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay.[78]
At the 2024 Carlton Football Club Hall of Fame dinner on 18 March, three players were inducted into the Hall of Fame:[85]
Jack Carney, who played 84 games and won one premiership for the club between 1936 and 1941, before serving in administrative and reserves team support roles with the club over the following decades;
Neil Chandler, who played 76 games and won three premierships with the club between 1968 and 1974;
Brendan Fevola, who played 187 games and kicked 575 goals for the club between 1999 and 2009, winning two Coleman Medals and seven club leading goalkicker awards.
Additionally, to celebrate the club's 160th season, a special contingent of historical inductees, including members of the club's early history and all triple premiership winners from the club's 1906, 1907 and 1908 premierships, were inducted. These inductees were:[86]
Jack Baker, who played 116 matches and won one premiership between 1882 and 1888, and was captain in 1884 and 1885;
Alf Baud, who played 53 matches and won two premierships between 1913 and 1915, and was captain for the latter half of 1915
Les Beck, who played 60 matches and won three premierships between 1906 and 1909;
Jack Conway, who played about 33 matches and won one premiership between 1866 and 1871, and was captain from 1868 until 1871;
Billy Dick, who played 100 matches and won one premiership between 1911 and 1918, and was captain from 1914 to 1917;
Brighton Diggins, who played 31 matches as captain-coach and won one premiership between 1938 and 1940;
Jack Donovan, who played about 72 matches and won one premiership between 1869 and 1883, and was captain in 1871, 1872 and 1874;
Jim Flynn, who played 77 matches and won three premierships, including two premierships as captain, between 1903 and 1910;
John Gardiner, who played and won four premierships between 1872 and 1879, was captain from 1876 until 1879, and served as president from 1914 until 1924;
Billy Goer, who played about 130 matches and won four premierships between 1873 and 1889, and was captain in 1882;
Harry Guy, who played about 70 matches and won four premierships between 1865 and 1878, and was captain in 1875;
Robert Heatley, who played 33 matches in 1883 and 1884, served as president from 1901 until 1903, and was chairman of the Carlton Recreation Ground Management Committee;
Fred Jinks, who played 60 matches and won three premierships between 1906 and 1909;
George 'Mallee' Johnson, who played 90 matches and won three premierships between 1905 and 1909;
Alex Lang, who played 105 matches and won three premierships between 1906 and 1917;
Ted Kennedy, who played 106 matches and won three premierships between 1904 and 1909;
Tommy Leydin, who played about 91 matches and won one premiership between 1885 and 1889, and was captain from 1887 until 1889;
Lanty O'Brien, who played about 50 matches and won four premierships between 1865 and 1876;
Billy Payne, who played 127 games and won three premierships between 1904 and 1912;
George Robertson, who played between 1872 and 1881, and was captain from 1880 until 1881;
George Topping, who played 125 matches and won three premierships between 1902 and 1916.
AFL Women's
Squad
From 2023, Carlton lost inaugural AFL Women's player Phoebe McWilliams, who retired after eight seasons in the league and two with Carlton;[87] traded Paige Trudgeon and Annie Lee;[88] and delisted Imogen Milford, Daisy Walker and Chloe Wrigley.[89] Carlton gained three-year Collingwood player Tarni Brown, five-year Western Bulldogs player Celine Moody, and Port Adelaide's Yasmin Duursma in trades;[88] and Lila Keck and Meg Robertson in the draft.[90]
The club's 2024 squad is given below. Numbers in parentheses represent games played and goals scored for the season.
Carlton finished 14th in the league with a 4–7 record, although several heavy defeats and had the league's second-worst percentage. The week 7 win against Fremantle was the club's only win against a finalist, while two of its four wins were against the bottom two clubs (Gold Coast and Collingwood).
Carlton fielded reserves and state level teams in the men's and women's competitions during the 2024 season.
Men's
Carlton's men's reserves team contested its seventh VFL season; and its 87th overall season of reserves and state level competition dating back to 1919.
Club head of development Luke Power continued as reserves coach for the second season. VFL-listed players newly signed to team included: former AFL senior players Lachie Young (Western Bulldogs/North Melbourne) and Tom Phillips (Collingwood/Hawthorn); and Ollie Badr, Kristian Ferronato, Jess Gedi, Luca Goonan, Bailey Lambert, Luke Nelson, Flynn Riley, Michael Rudd, Tyson Sruk and Callum Verrall. Retained from 2023 were Noah Barnes, Jed Brereton, Ned Cahill, Patrick Dozzi, Hayden Gill, Darcy Hogg, Blake Kuipers, Jack Lefroy, Michael Lewis, Zavier Maher, Jack Maruff, Liam McMahon, Aiden “AJ” Mills, Hugo Nosiara, Logan Prout, Heath Ramshaw, Archie Stevens, Lachie Swaney and Will White. Lachie Young and Lachie Swaney were appointed co-captains following the departure of 2023 captain Ben Crocker.[102]
Carlton's reserves had an unsuccessful season, finishing 19th of 21 teams with a win–loss record of 4–14.[103]Liam McMahon won the team's best and fairest award.[104]
Women's
The club fielded a team in the VFL Women's competition for the sixth time. The club's AFL Women's senior assistant coach Glenn Strachan took over from Tom Stafford as VFL Women's senior coach, after the latter had served two seasons in the role.[105] Octavia di Donato and Eliza Wood were appointed co-captains, each for the first time.[106]
Carlton finished 9th out of 12 premiership-eligible teams with a win-loss record of 5–9.[107] Eliza Wood won the team's best and fairest award.[108]