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.
Club summary 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, and job seekers' service provider CareerOne, newly signed in 2016 to a two-season deal; the club's six-year association with confectionery company Mars came to an end at the end of the 2015 season. 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. The club's membership was 50,130, a 6% increase from 2015. 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.
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. 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.
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.
Senior personnel Mark LoGiudice continued as club president, a role he had held since June 2014. 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.
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. 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). Neil Craig replaced Rob Wiley as director of coaching, development and performance, after having served in a similar role at .
Squad for 2016 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 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 2004 Bendigo (U18) 191 130 11 9 8 130 77 53 34 25 4 2 Jack Silvagni 18 2016 Oakleigh (U18) – – 8 7 7 76 53 23 26 25 – 3 Marc Murphy (c) 28 2006 Oakleigh (U18) 204 150 10 7 3 205 114 91 38 30 1 4 Bryce Gibbs (lg) 26 2007 Glenelg 187 102 22 18 12 590 320 270 77 114 50 6 Kade Simpson (vc) 31 2003 Eastern (U18) 242 124 22 3 0 597 383 214 152 54 – 7 Dylan Buckley 22 2013 Northern (U18) 27 7 11 9 8 142 81 61 34 32 – 8 Matthew Kreuzer 26 2008 Northern (U18) 119 65 21 7 8 231 136 95 46 84 429 9 Patrick Cripps (lg) 20 2014 East Fremantle 23 6 21 10 14 566 176 390 68 139 36 10 Harry McKay 18 – Gippsland (U18) – – – – – – – – – – – 11 Sam Kerridge 22 2012 Bendigo (U18), 27 23 21 6 14 448 210 238 99 70 6 12 Blaine Boekhorst 22 2015 Swan Districts 11 5 7 3 3 94 53 41 27 14 – 13 Jed Lamb 23 2013 Gippsland (U18), , GWS 22 17 15 13 9 186 122 64 54 38 – 14 Liam Jones 24 2010 North Hobart, 75 75 8 9 7 78 44 34 24 18 – 15 Sam Docherty (lg) 22 2013 Gippsland (U18), 48 10 22 1 2 566 359 207 173 57 – 16 Dillon Viojo-Rainbow 19 – Western (U18) – – – – – – – – – – – 17 Sam Rowe 28 2013 Murray (U18), Sydney, Norwood 51 13 22 2 1 198 99 99 84 28 24 18 Kristian Jaksch 21 2013 Oakleigh (U18), GWS 13 3 1 0 0 8 7 1 2 2 – 19 Liam Sumner 22 2012 Sandringham (U18), GWS 12 9 16 8 6 150 94 56 38 42 – 20 Lachie Plowman 21 2013 Calder (U18), GWS 20 1 19 0 0 233 121 112 77 35 – 22 Jason Tutt 24 2011 Ainslie, 39 26 1 1 0 18 10 8 4 4 – 23 Jacob Weitering 18 2016 Dandenong (U18) – – 20 2 0 291 164 127 106 24 – 24 Mark Whiley 23 2012 Murray (U18), GWS 20 3 1 0 0 16 8 8 2 1 1 25 Clem Smith 19 2015 Perth 7 – – – – – – – – – – 26 Jayden Foster 20 – Calder (U18) – – – – – – – – – – – 27 Dennis Armfield 29 2008 Swan Districts 125 57 15 16 10 225 123 102 51 34 – 28 David Cuningham 18 2016 Oakleigh (U18) – – 3 0 0 31 14 17 8 16 – 30 Charlie Curnow 18 2016 Geelong (U18) – – 6 5 2 60 35 25 18 9 – 31 Matthew Dick 21 2015 Calder (U18), 6 – – – – – – – – – – 32 Nicholas Graham 21 2013 Gippsland (U18) 16 5 12 2 9 220 118 102 56 59 1 33 Andrejs Everitt 26 2007 Dandenong (U18), , 118 76 13 17 8 180 99 81 67 17 6 34 Andrew Phillips 24 2012 Lauderdale, GWS 14 5 16 6 2 109 63 46 37 39 258 35 Ed Curnow (lg) 26 2011 Geelong (U18), Adelaide, Box Hill 88 11 21 5 9 524 275 249 76 147 – 37 Daniel Gorringe 23 2011 Norwood, 22 7 4 4 3 52 27 25 17 8 36 39 Dale Thomas 28 2006 Gippsland (U18), 182 135 18 6 5 333 202 131 77 55 2 40 Michael Jamison 29 2007 North Ballarat (U18, VFL) 145 2 5 0 0 37 18 19 14 10 – 41 Levi Casboult 25 2012 Dandenong (U18) 52 53 20 18 18 191 119 72 107 26 6 42 Zach Tuohy 26 2011 Laois GAA 98 34 22 6 5 443 275 168 80 48 1 43 Simon White 27 2010 Subiaco 59 10 17 2 2 261 132 129 76 42 2 46 Matthew Wright 26 2011 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 Ciarán Sheehan 25 2014 Cork GAA 4 – – – – – – – – – – 29 Billy Gowers 19 – Oakleigh (U18) – – – – – – – – – – – 36 Cameron Wood 28 2005 West Adelaide, , , Williamstown 88 28 – – – – – – – – – 38 Ciarán Byrne 21 2015 Louth GAA 1 – 11 0 1 184 103 81 48 24 – 45 Andrew Gallucci 21 – Calder (U18), Williamstown – – – – – – – – – – – 47 Jesse Glass-McCasker 18 – Swan Districts – – – – – – – – – – – 48 Matt Korcheck 24 – Arizona – – – – – – – – – – – Senior coaching panel State Coach Coaching position Carlton Coaching debut Former clubs as coach Brendon Bolton Senior Coach 2016 North Hobart (s), Tasmania (VFL) (s), Clarence (s), Box Hill (s), (a) John Barker Assistant coach (Stoppages) 2011 St Kilda (a), Hawthorn (a) Neil Craig Director of Coaching, Development and Performance 2016 Norwood (s), (s), (cs), (m) Tim Clarke Assistant coach (Midfield) 2016 (a), Coburg (s), Richmond reserves (s) Shane Watson 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) Matthew Capuano Development coach 2009 Josh Fraser Development coach, Northern Blues senior coach 2016 Gold Coast reserves (s)
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 have occurred since the conclusion of the 2015 season. Unless otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2015 AFL draft.
In Player Previous club League via Matt Korcheck University of Arizona Pac-12 Basketball Signed as a Category B International rookie late in the 2015 season. Sam Kerridge AFL AFL Trade Period, with 's second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 28, obtained in the trade for Patrick Dangerfield), in exchange for Troy Menzel. Jed Lamb GWS AFL 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). Andrew Phillips GWS AFL Lachie Plowman GWS AFL Liam Sumner GWS AFL Daniel Gorringe AFL Signed as a delisted free agent prior to the National Draft. Jacob Weitering Dandenong TAC Cup AFL National Draft, first round (No. 1 overall) Harry McKay Gippsland TAC Cup AFL National Draft, first round (No. 10 overall) Charlie Curnow Geelong TAC Cup AFL National Draft, first round (No. 12 overall) David Cuningham Oakleigh TAC Cup AFL National Draft, first round (No. 23 overall) Jack Silvagni Oakleigh TAC Cup 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 AFL Signed as a delisted free agent after the National Draft. Jesse Glass-McCasker Swan Districts WAFL AFL Rookie Draft, first round (No. 1 overall) Andrew Gallucci Williamstown VFL AFL Rookie Draft, second round (No. 19 overall)
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