President Mark LoGiudice AFL season 18th (4–18) | Captain(s) Marc Murphy John Nicholls Medal Patrick Cripps | |
Coach Mick Malthouse (Rds 1–8)
John Barker (Rds 9–23) Home ground Melbourne Cricket Ground
(Training and administrative: Ikon Park) | ||
The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season in the Australian Football League contested by the Carlton Football Club. A very poor season for the club, which was disrupted by the sacking after only eight rounds of third-year coach Mick Malthouse, Carlton finished last on the ladder with a record of 4–18.
Contents
Club summary
The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 119th season contested by the Carlton Football Club. Carlton's primary home ground for games was the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the club hosting six matches at the venue and five at Etihad Stadium – a small change from the previous season, when the club had played six games at Etihad Stadium and five at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Traditional home ground at Princes Park (which was renamed from Visy Park to Ikon Park from the start of the year under a two-year naming rights deal with Ikon Services Australia) continued to serve as the training and administrative base. 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.
Following an online vote of members, the club changed the font of the CFC monogram on the front of its playing guernsey. The new monogram, more traditional in style, featured block-style letters and no gaps at the intersections between letters; it matched the design which had been used between 1927 and 1997, and which had thrice been worn as a heritage guernsey during the 2014 season.
The club's membership for the 2015 season was 47,305, a 0.4% reduction from the 2014 membership of 47,485; it was Carlton's second consecutive reduction in membership, and the club was one of only three clubs to suffer a drop in membership in the 2015 season. The club made a net operating loss of $2,700,000 for the season.
Senior Personnel
Mark LoGiudice continued as club president, a role he has held since June 2014. Mick Malthouse began the season as senior coach, with his coaching panel unchanged from 2014; following his Malthouse dismissal on 26 May, backline assistant coach John Barker stepped in as caretaker.
Marc Murphy continued into his third season as club captain, as part of a five-man leadership group, a reduction from the seven-man group which led the team in 2014. Bryce Gibbs, Lachlan Henderson and Michael Jamison remained in the group from 2014 – Gibbs and Jamison were named vice-captains – and Sam Rowe was elevated to the group. Leaving the group were Andrew Carrazzo and Kade Simpson, who both stepped down from the group after serving in it for many years, and Brock McLean, who was delisted.
Squad for 2015
Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football.
Playing list changes
The following summarises all player changes between the conclusion of the 2014 season and the conclusion of the 2015 season.
Pre-season matches
The club's three scheduled pre-season matches were played as part of the 2015 NAB Challenge series.
Home and away season
Carlton performed very poorly in the early part of the home-and-away season. The club fell to last place after Round 7, won one of its first eight games – against defending wooden spooner St Kilda in Round 4 – and lost four games by more than ten goals. The turndown in form placed significant pressure on Carlton's off-field organisation. The club had engaged in optimistic preseason marketing, which included Mick Malthouse telling the media that "it’s very, very difficult to see where we’re going to lose a game"; but after only the second round, a 69-point loss against West Coast, Steven Trigg and Mark LoGiudice publicly declared that the club was in a phase of rebuilding. The following weeks were characterised by poor performances and low crowds, which resulted in speculation about Malthouse's coaching future with the club. Early in the season, LoGiudice guaranteed that Malthouse would retain his job until the end of the season, but on May 25, he announced a revised position that Malthouse's tenure would be reviewed during the Round 11 bye week. The following morning, Malthouse gave an interview on SEN 1116 in which he was openly critical of the club's administration: he blamed the club's poor performances in part on the psychological effect of Trigg's and LoGiudice's talk of rebuilding; he said he believed LoGiudice's administration had never intended to retain him as coach even before the season began; and he made allegations that Adelaide, during Carlton CEO Steven Trigg's tenure there, had illegally signed a contract with Eddie Betts eighteen months before he became an eligible free agent (Betts had transferred from Carlton to Adelaide at the end of 2013 as a restricted free agent, and the AFL dismissed Malthouse's allegations). Consequently, Malthouse was dismissed that afternoon.
Backline assistant coach John Barker was installed as caretaker coach for the remainder of the season. The club's performances improved over the following six weeks, with two wins and two close losses, but the end of the season was little better than the start, and Carlton won only one of its last ten matches, finishing last on percentage. It was Carlton's first last place finish since 2006, and the fourth in the club's VFL/AFL history.
Across the season, Carlton had a record of 3–3 in six matches against other clubs in the bottom six, all of whom won seven or fewer games for the season. Against all other clubs, Carlton's record was 1–15, the sole win coming against 9th-placed Port Adelaide.
Team awards and records
John Nicholls Medal
The Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest awards night took place on 17 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.
The winner of the John Nicholls Medal was Patrick Cripps, who polled 68 votes to narrowly beat captain Marc Murphy (67 votes) and Zach Tuohy (64 votes). It was Cripps' first John Nicholls Medal in only his second season, having played only three senior games before the start of the season. At age 20 years 6 months, Cripps was the second-youngest winner of the Carlton best and fairest behind only John Nicholls who won aged 20 years 1 month in 1959.
The following other awards were presented on John Nicholls Medal night:-
Leading Goalkickers
Andrejs Everitt was Carlton's leading goalkicker for the season, with 31 goals. It was the first time Everitt had won Carlton's goalkicking.
Other awards
Patrick Cripps was nominated for 2015 NAB AFL Rising Star award after his Round 4 performance against St Kilda. He was the favourite to win the award, but was ultimately voted to second place.
Player and coach records
Northern Blues
The Carlton Football Club had a full affiliation with the Northern Blues during the 2015 season. It was the thirteenth 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 three ways, with three matches at the VFL club's traditional home ground Preston City Oval, four matches at Carlton's traditional home ground Ikon Park, and two matches played as curtain-raisers to Carlton AFL matches at Etihad Stadium. The Northern Blues finished 14th out of 15 in the VFL with a record of 4–14. Carlton's Brad Walsh won the Laurie Hill Trophy as Northern's best and fairest.