The 2018 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 155th season of competition.
It was the club's men's team's 122nd season as a member of the Australian Football League. The team finished last out of eighteen teams in the 2018 AFL season, with the club's worst ever win–loss record of 2–20.
It was the club's women's team's second season as a member of the AFL Women's competition. The team also finished last, out of eight teams, in the 2018 AFL Women's season with a 2–5 record.
The club fielded a team in the VFL Women's competition.
Club summary The 2018 AFL season was the 122nd season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 122nd season contested by the Carlton Football Club. 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. Carlton's primary home ground continued to be the Melbourne Cricket Ground; traditional home ground Ikon Park continued to serve as the training and administrative base. The club fielded its women's team in the second season of the AFL Women's competition, running in February and March; Ikon Park served as the home ground for AFL Women's matches. The club also fielded its VFL women's team in the VFL Women's competition for the first time, splitting home games between RAMS Arena, Craigieburn and Ikon Park.
Car manufacturer Hyundai, which had been a major sponsor of the club continuously since 2008, and airline Virgin Australia, which had upgraded from a secondary sponsor to a major sponsor during the 2017 season, continued as the club's two major sponsors, each signing a five-year extension to their existing deals. In August, the club launched the Carlton College of Sports, a higher education institution in partnership with La Trobe University; it received its first intake of students in 2019 to study sports education diplomas, with much of the program operated out of the redeveloped grandstands at Ikon Park.
Senior Personnel Mark LoGiudice continued as club president, a role he had held since June 2014. CEO Steven Trigg resigned shortly after the 2017 season, and he was replaced by Chief Customer Officer Cain Liddle.
Brendon Bolton continued as club coach for his third season in the role. Originally, it was the final season of Bolton's open-ended contract in which he was guaranteed a full payout if sacked; but over the off-season, the club and Bolton renegotiated to extend this period until the end of 2020. The club's coaching staff underwent some changes and expansions before the 2018 season. Director of Coaching Neil Craig retired from the football industry at the end of 2017 after more than four decades as a player and coach; John Barker took over as the club's head of strategy. Former player and development coach David Teague, who had been most recently serving as forward-line coach at , returned to Carlton as an assistant coach, and former Melbourne player Cameron Bruce, who had most recently served as defensive coach at and had worked there with Brendan Bolton, joined Carlton as defensive coach. Recently retired Essendon midfielder Brent Stanton and Geelong Football League coach Jason Davenport both joined the club as development coaches.
Marc Murphy retained his position as club captain for the sixth season. Kade Simpson stepped down as vice-captain after nine years in the role, but remained in the leadership group. Patrick Cripps and Sam Docherty named joint vice captains in his place – Docherty's nomination coming despite having already suffered a season-ending knee injury prior to the announcement. The rest of the extended leadership group comprised Ed Curnow, who held his place in the group from 2017, and Matthew Kreuzer, Lachie Plowman and (despite being on the rookie list) Alex Silvagni, who were all newly elevated, replacing Dennis Armfield and Bryce Gibbs, who both left the club at the end of 2017.
Squad for 2018 The following is Carlton's squad for the 2018 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 2017) 2018 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 1 Jack Silvagni 20 2016 Oakleigh (U18) 28 26 15 6 4 161 93 68 45 42 0 2 Paddy Dow 18 2018 Bendigo (U18) – – 20 7 7 284 136 148 40 64 0 3 Marc Murphy (c) 30 2006 Oakleigh (U18) 236 168 13 5 4 338 184 154 62 52 0 4 Lochie O'Brien 18 2018 Bendigo (U18) – – 18 2 1 251 168 83 79 26 0 5 Sam Petrevski-Seton 19 2017 Claremont 20 10 22 5 8 354 206 148 79 95 0 6 Kade Simpson (lg) 33 2003 Eastern (U18) 286 131 21 4 0 549 369 180 115 42 0 7 Matthew Kennedy 20 2016 Collingullie-Glenfield Park, GWS 19 7 12 3 3 206 83 123 40 40 0 8 Matthew Kreuzer (lg) 28 2008 Northern (U18) 161 84 12 5 5 159 99 60 24 41 276 9 Patrick Cripps (vc) 22 2014 East Fremantle 59 23 22 11 15 652 259 393 92 138 0 10 Harry McKay 20 2017 Gippsland (U18) 2 3 13 21 11 138 103 35 70 23 24 11 Sam Kerridge 24 2012 Bendigo (U18), 59 31 10 4 3 211 117 94 60 31 0 12 Tom de Koning 18 2018 Dandenong (U18) – – 2 1 0 16 6 10 6 4 3 13 Jed Lamb 25 2013 Gippsland (U18), , GWS 48 36 18 7 3 262 179 83 53 39 0 14 Liam Jones 26 2010 North Hobart, 95 84 17 0 1 180 124 56 92 39 9 15 Sam Docherty (vc) 24 2013 Gippsland (U18), 92 14 – – – – – – – – – 16 Darcy Lang 22 2014 Geelong (U18), 44 31 11 6 2 152 94 58 44 40 0 17 Sam Rowe 30 2013 Murray (U18), Sydney, Norwood 82 16 17 1 0 157 92 65 52 28 23 18 Aaron Mullett 25 2011 Eastern (U18), 85 31 13 2 4 195 143 52 56 24 0 19 Angus Schumacher 18 – Bendigo (U18) – – – – – – – – – – – 20 Lachie Plowman (lg) 23 2013 Calder (U18), GWS 60 1 13 0 0 155 98 57 57 17 0 21 Jarrod Garlett 21 2015 South Fremantle, 17 10 11 5 7 123 80 43 35 36 0 22 Caleb Marchbank 21 2015 Murray (U18), GWS 23 0 12 0 1 160 100 60 53 24 0 23 Jacob Weitering 20 2016 Dandenong (U18) 42 9 14 1 0 189 127 62 82 22 0 24 Cam O'Shea 25 2011 Eastern (U18), , Northern Blues 81 7 11 0 0 129 85 44 40 33 2 25 Zac Fisher 19 2017 Perth 17 4 17 8 6 326 170 156 29 59 0 26 Harrison Macreadie 19 2017 Henty 8 0 – – – – – – – – – 27 Matthew Lobbe 28 2010 Eastern (U18), 92 21 6 1 1 59 32 27 14 29 212 28 David Cuningham 20 2016 Oakleigh (U18) 11 6 5 1 0 61 24 37 12 8 0 29 Cameron Polson 19 2017 Sandringham (U18) 1 0 12 3 5 91 50 41 7 39 0 30 Charlie Curnow 20 2016 Geelong (U18) 27 25 20 34 20 277 206 71 123 42 2 31 Tom Williamson 19 2017 North Ballarat (U18) 15 1 – – – – – – – – – 32 Nicholas Graham 23 2013 Gippsland (U18) 38 10 10 1 5 167 88 79 37 29 0 33 Jarrod Pickett 21 2017 South Fremantle, GWS 10 6 7 2 1 58 40 18 13 20 0 34 Andrew Phillips 26 2012 Lauderdale, GWS 31 11 5 3 0 34 22 12 9 10 139 35 Ed Curnow (lg) 28 2011 Geelong (U18), Adelaide, Box Hill 122 22 21 5 6 534 266 268 81 138 0 36 Pat Kerr 19 – Oakleigh (U18) – – 4 2 5 37 28 9 17 3 6 38 Ciarán Byrne 23 2015 Louth GAA 15 0 7 0 1 116 67 49 26 20 0 39 Dale Thomas 30 2006 Gippsland (U18), 218 149 20 3 1 446 270 179 139 39 0 41 Levi Casboult 27 2012 Dandenong (U18) 94 105 10 12 10 86 61 25 37 12 76 46 Matthew Wright 28 2011 North Adelaide, 138 115 21 21 12 283 179 104 81 46 0 Rookie List No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2017) 2018 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 37 Matt Shaw 25 2011 Dandenong (U18), 102 33 2 0 0 36 16 20 9 0 0 40 Jesse Glass-McCasker 20 – Swan Districts – – – – – – – – – – – 42 Kym LeBois 19 – North Adelaide – – – – – – – – – – – 44 Alex Silvagni (lg) 30 2010 Casey, 60 10 – – – – – – – – – 45 Cillian McDaid 20 – Galway GAA – – – – – – – – – – – 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 Head of Strategy & High Performance Manager 2011 St Kilda (a), Hawthorn (a) Cameron Bruce Assistant coach (Defenders) 2018 (a) Tim Clarke Assistant coach (Midfield) 2016 (a), Coburg (s), Richmond reserves (s) Dale Amos Assistant coach (Stoppages) 2016 South Barwon (s), (a), Geelong reserves (s) David Teague Assistant coach (Forwards) 2008 (d), Northern Bullants (s), (a), (a), (a) Shane Watson Head of Development (Defenders) 2016 Lower Plenty (s), Sandringham (U18) (a), Eastern (U18) (s), (a) Josh Fraser Development coach (Stoppages), Northern Blues senior coach 2016 Gold Coast reserves (s) Jason Davenport Development coach (Forwards) 2018 North Shore (s) Brent Stanton Development coach (Midfield) 2018
For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes 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 2017 season. Unless otherwise noted, draft picks refer to selections in the 2017 AFL draft.
As in the 2016/17 offseason, Bryce Gibbs was linked to Adelaide during the trade period. Originally South Australian, Gibbs was three years into a five-year contract, but sought a return to Adelaide for family reasons, nominating the Adelaide Crows as his preferred destination. No deal had been reached during the 2016/17 offseason, but successful negotiations in this offseason saw Gibbs traded to Adelaide for draft picks. Carlton made three recruits during the trade period, and entered the 2017 draft with two selections in the top ten.
In Player Former Club League via Matthew Lobbe AFL AFL Trade Period, in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick (provisionally No. 95) and part of Lobbe's salary continuing to be paid by Port Adelaide. Matthew Kennedy AFL AFL Trade Period, in exchange for a second-round draft pick (provisionally No. 28) Darcy Lang AFL AFL Trade Period, along with Carlton's fourth-round draft pick in the 2018 National Draft, in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick (provisionally No. 58) and 's fourth-round draft pick in the 2018 National Draft. Aaron Mullett AFL Signed as a delisted free agent prior to the national draft. Cillian McDaid GAA Galway GAA Signed as a Category B International Rookie prior to the national draft. Paddy Dow TAC Cup Bendigo AFL National Draft, first round selection (No. 3 overall). Lochie O'Brien TAC Cup Bendigo AFL National Draft, first round selection (No. 10 overall). Tom de Koning TAC Cup Dandenong AFL National Draft, second round selection (No. 30 overall). Angus Schumacher TAC Cup Bendigo AFL National Draft, fourth round selection (No. 70 overall). Jarrod Garlett WAFL South Fremantle AFL National Draft, fifth round selection (No. 78 overall). Cam O'Shea VFL Northern Blues Taken with the only selection in the AFL Pre-season Draft (No. 1 overall). Matt Shaw AFL AFL Rookie Draft, first round selection (No. 3 overall).
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