“IT WASN’T an absolute criteria to coach their own team, but fortunately these three have.”

Quality people, quality coaches: that’s what Head of Football Brad Lloyd believes the Blues have welcomed to the Club via its assistant coaching panel. 

After the appointment of Michael Voss as AFL Senior Coach just over a fortnight ago, Carlton moved quickly to finalise the rest of the football department. 

In what was a busy week last week, the Blues welcomed back Aaron Hamill (backline and team defence) and Tim Clarke (midfield) to the IKON Park fold, while securing Ashley Hansen (offensive and forward line) as Senior Assistant.

While Hamill and Clarke are no strangers to Royal Parade, Lloyd in fact has an existing relationship with Hansen, with the Blues’ Head of Football taking on the role as Hansen’s player manager when he was at West Coast. 

This is what Lloyd had to say on the individuals who have made their way to the football club, as well as the process undertaken and the next steps.

Tim Clarke:

“I unfortunately didn’t get to work with Tim in my time since being at the Club. I had heard such good things about him, from a quality of person point of view. People raved about Tim Clarke and the way he goes about it, the person he is and the way he coaches. 

The messages I received when announcing that Tim was coming back to the Club spoke to his character. We reached out to him and the opportunity presented for both parties. We couldn’t be happier. He’s excited: he’ll come back to Victoria in mid-November and get started.

Aaron Hamill:

Catching up with him, you can see his desire to be involved — that passion. He’s been in a lot already. His assertiveness and the way he goes about it as well as his experience [stood out], he’s coached his own team. 

He’s been at St Kilda for a long time and built some connections and good IP. He was open to a change and he has hit the ground running.

Ashley Hansen:

I’m proud of Ash and what he has built through his coaching. He’s a premiership player at centre half forward for West Coast, so he has had that experience. He got in as a development coach at the Western Bulldogs, coached a premiership for Footscray and graduated into assistant coaching. 

He’s got a great background and is really good with people, while he loves the technical side of the game. That Senior Assistant position is a critical appointment to support ‘Vossy’, and Ash Hansen is perfect for us.

Michael Voss’ involvement: 

He has hit the ground running. As soon as he was appointed, we got into an office to start walking through the assistant coaching panel and what that looks like. He’s played a massive role in getting the assistants on-board.

He’s also been straight into the gym and spending into the gym and spending time with the players. He’s so personable. He’s built some relationships really quickly and brought really good energy around the place: he’s been outstanding in the last couple of weeks.

Luke Power and Daniel O’Keefe returning:

They’re great people. Luke has been at the Club for a couple of years now and is fresh off of Assistant Coach of the Year. He really galvanises the football department, with the way he is with people and with the players: he really takes them into his own life and teaches and coaches.

Dan O’Keefe’s first year was a Covid year, being in the hub which was really challenging, but he did a really good job with the scrimmage games. This year, we had our Carlton Reserves team, and launching a club over a couple of months was a huge job. We got some great feedback on the way the program was run.

They’re two special people, Dan and Luke, that are running our development.

Player protocols before pre-season:

There are obviously protocols from a Covid point of view, but the players are able to come in via short spurts and get some gym work done to keep their training up and rehabilitation up if they’ve been injured. It’s good from a connection point of view to give them somewhere to train, but also doing it safely. 

It’s been good to have a few of them around: we have a facility that’s being developed at the moment, so we’ve got a new gym area and a brand-new office space which is exciting as well. There’s a pretty good vibe around the place at the moment.

For the full interview, listen in via the player below.