Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Josh Fraser continues to resist a groundswell of support to nominate for the vacant Carlton coaching job despite leading the battling Blues to three straight morale-boosting victories since Michael Voss and the Blues parted ways.
The interim coach maintained his “I am not ready” line after an inspired Carlton defeated Geelong by four points on Friday night at the MCG, saying his focus was on playing Essendon next week.
But Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides was among several leading voices who believed Fraser could fill the role, saying he had the potential to replicate Paul Roos’ fairytale rise from fill-in coach to premiership hero at Sydney.
“I think he (Fraser) is probably a lot more ready than maybe what he thought,” Koutoufides told this masthead.
“Paul Roos was a great example at Sydney (where he started as an interim coach). The players loved Roosy so much that there was nothing Sydney could do but appoint him, and he goes on to win them a premiership, long awaited.
“Could this be round two of that? Potentially, the way he (Fraser) is going, without putting pressure on him, it could be another scenario like this.”
Koutoufides said no-one expected the Blues players to “react in the way that they have” in the past three weeks under Fraser, beating the Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide and the Cats.
“So, it’s a great sign for Josh,” he said.
“The next few weeks will really tell the true scenario, but I don’t see why – with the way that they are playing – why he wouldn’t put his hand up and say, ‘I’m available’. But that’s his call. There’s still a long way to go.”
Carlton face the Bombers at the MCG next Sunday, followed by games against Greater Western Sydney (away), West Coast Eagles (Marvel Stadium) and Richmond (MCG).
Despite the favourable draw, Fraser will be mindful that David Teague was appointed to lead Carlton off the back of a successful stint as interim coach – five wins from his first seven games, and six wins from his first 11, following the sacking of Brendon Bolton – but he too was cast aside by the club two years later.
“In my time in footy, and maybe my learnings in footy, I’ve just learnt not to expect anything, but prepare yourself and own your own development and be ambitious,” Fraser said.
“I’ve said this a number of times, I see this as an interim coaching role. Part of my responsibility is to help the club moving forward and make sure it is better placed at the end of the season to what it is now.”
Fraser, 44, laughed when asked how he would respond if Carlton asked him to apply for the job.
“That’s a big hypothetical,” he said. “Again, I think for me, I’ve still got some work to do, and I do feel like this opportunity is helping me.
“I’m fully supportive of the club preparing and going through a process to find the best person for Carlton.”
Captain Patrick Cripps and vice captain Jacob Weitering acknowledged on Saturday that Voss had played a part in Carlton’s form reversal – the Blues moving into top 10 calculations, following a dismal 1-8 start to the season.
“I think if you chat to all the boys we couldn’t speak highly enough of Frase, but a lot of these foundations were built off the major work that Vossy did for us as a group and the coaches,” Cripps told 3AW.
“I think in these processes you have got to back the coaching panel, I think they’ve got to go through the right process, get detail and if at the end of that, they see Frase as the best man to do the job, I think that’s the way they’ll go.”
Cripps also dismissed speculation he wanted out of Carlton at the year’s end, following the axing of another coach.
“I love the Carlton footy club,” he said.
But while Weitering said Fraser was doing a “giving us the freedom to play our way”, he felt an element of guilt over Voss’s axing.
“He was a wonderful mentor and excellent leader of men, and to the very end he carried himself the exact same as he did when he first walked in,” Weitering told SEN.
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