There are always two games being played at Carlton. One is ruthless and menacing, the players convinced of their own ability to finally deliver the Blues to the promised land. The other is played against other teams on ovals of grass.
The game of suits heated up this week, when the last of the club’s line of big-money benefactor families left the club board. Craig Mathieson resigned after two tipping points.
One, his uncle, Bruce Mathieson, sprayed the CEO and the board in comments to News Corp a couple of weeks ago as responsible for the latest dire situation the club finds itself in. The outburst immediately cast his nephew at odds with the remainder of his board members.
Two, Carlton played horribly again on Friday night and Craig Mathieson was less than discreet with his own thoughts on the club’s plight in the change rooms after the game. Things became testy and the next day Mathieson offered his resignation to the board.
The generous allocation of pokies licences that comes from the Mathiesons delivers millions of dollars to Carlton each year. Carlton confirmed in their 2022 annual report that they made more than $20 million in revenue from their four hospitality venues last year. The Mathiesons lease and manage three of the four venues.
So the first and most obvious question arising from his departure is: will Bruce now take his pokies and go?The club doesn’t believe so, at least in the immediate sense, but that could change.
Patrick Cripps leads the Blues off the field after the loss against Sydney.Credit: AFL Photos
But the second question is: if they do go, how much would it hurt Carlton? The club had been inching towards a disentanglement from pokies with mixed levels of enthusiasm. Not insignificant in the motivation was the preference to change its culture – or business model – of reliance on benevolent billionaires.
Of course the answer to the question would be that if the pokies were somehow pulled quickly then yes, it would hurt revenue significantly.
Strangely, the healthiest thing that might have occurred this year with Carlton was that they gave their fans hope. The early season promise suggested that the team that fell over at the death last year was ready to go further. The Carlton masses, of which there is a number that would put others in the shade, were invigorated. They believed. And they connected again in big numbers.
Carlton have always been a mass-supported club, but this could become a moment that it translates – as Richmond were able to do and Hawthorn before them – into independent revenue streams. Bear in mind Carlton’s underlying supporter base is bigger than both those clubs. The Blues have the capacity to uncouple the feudal ties of being benefactor-reliant.
Carlton insiders felt the Mathieson family remained aligned to former list manager Stephen Silvagni, which was not something they would miss when Craig left the board.
Regardless, Bruce Mathieson’s recent tirade only reflected the broader sense of deep frustration and anger among that large fan base. How can you defend football decisions when the evidence is there on the field each week?
When you create a vacuum others fill it. When you fail to tell your own story, you let others tell it for you.
Carlton are now 13th and suddenly in freefall. Last Friday night was the worst of their performances this season, for they played another team that is struggling – a side without tall defenders. And still Carlton lost.
The questions about the Blues’ situation now are timeless and relate to every club in this predicament. There is normally one in this situation every one to two years (sadly, that was also Carlton just two years ago).
Is the list overrated? A number of Carlton insiders think the star quality at the top blurs the reality of the depth of talent that lies beneath. They feel there are still too many holes that mean a few injuries or drop in form by critical players leave an outsized effect.
Is the coach not getting the most out of the team? There was nothing too much wrong with the coaching when Carlton were about to play finals with only seconds to go in the last round of the season last year. And not too much wrong in the first month of the season in 2023. But it is a matter of perspective and whether you choose to more heavily weight the performance in the first half of this season to date or the second.
Or is the coach not as ably supported by the staff around him? Assistant coaches, strategists, medical staff, all of the above.
All of these things can be true. It is not just pick a box and only one answer is right.
The problem of the two games being played at Carlton is that the board, like the football department, has to have a clarity of thought and unity of purpose with their analysis and that presently feels painfully absent.
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