BARRETT: Two coaches, two big clubs, and two very different problems

JOSH Fraser and Dean Solomon. Interim coaches with just the one similarity and multiple differences.

The similarity is the media strategy behind their new roles, respectively at Carlton and Essendon. Neither wants to go near a public statement expressing a desire to land the job permanently.

Lines from "it's the last thing on my mind," to "I haven't thought about it" to "I won't even consider it" and even "I'm probably not quite ready" have been just some of the very contrived word juggling of this duo as they respectively lead their clubs through the back half of the 2026 season.

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It is monotonous. But it is smart, as the interim coaches' contrived detachment is liberating and allowing them to simply "coach", not play public politics. Being seen to be ambivalent about the senior job arguably makes them more attractive to those who will be making the big decisions at the clubs.

Now, the many differences. Fraser was installed as Blues' caretaker to replace Michael Voss without any barracking from club officials for him to succeed. Solomon might have been given the keys to replace Brad Scott at Essendon as far back as October 22, 2025, when, out of nowhere and without Scott asking for it, the club announced it had moved Solomon off its board of directors and onto its coaching panel.

Carlton's process is being complicated by success. Fraser has won five from five, privately making his case through the purest currency and the only thing that really matters when you are running a football club – wins.

Essendon's process is being complicated by more losses, with Solomon overseeing defeats to West Coast, Carlton and Melbourne.

The man heading Carlton's search is CEO Graham Wright, a man with a proven track record of identifying successful senior coaches. When at Collingwood in 2021 in a football manager guise, and after overseeing the exit of Nathan Buckley, he immediately approached Sam Mitchell to take over, only for Mitchell to leverage that approach into fast-tracking the Hawthorn removal of Alastair Clarkson.

Wright then went far and wide in approaches to many senior assistant coaches before settling on Craig McRae, who took a 17th-placed team from 2021 into a preliminary final in 2022, and to a premiership in 2023.

Wright and Blues football manager Chris Davies will have great faith in their own abilities to find the permanent Voss replacement, even with Fraser forcing his way into their minds.

At Essendon, the decision will rest with Andrew Welsh, a tough, popular and injury beset player in 162 matches for the Bombers who joined the club's board in 2022, became its vice president in 2023 and replacement for David Barham as president late last year.

It was Welsh who pitch-forked Solomon into the assistant coach role last October, and Welsh who then gave Solomon a 12-match runway as caretaker after sacking Scott following the round 11 loss to Richmond in late May.

The process for Welsh became complicated the day the Scott news broke, when James Hird used his role as a Footy Classified panelist to publicly pitch for the senior job.

At the time of writing this column, on Tuesday evening, Welsh was yet to publicly reveal the Bombers' desired characteristics in their future coach nor the processes around which the club will seek to interview candidates. And good luck phrasing criteria that would preclude Hird yet include Solomon.

Welsh's role at Essendon reminds me of Glenn Archer's time at North Melbourne seven years ago, and for Essendon, that is a cautionary story. Ben Buckley was North's chairman, but Archer was the quasi main decision maker in 2019 when the Roos did as Welsh did late last month and sacked Brad Scott as their coach.

Archer had already forged legendary status as a player at North Melbourne and, like Welsh, had long proved himself as a successful businessman. But he made the wrong call in rushing to appoint interim coach Rhyce Shaw as Scott's replacement, for Shaw exited just one season later. And David Noble, Shaw's replacement, again with Archer playing a key role in identification, lasted just a season and half after that.

To borrow a phrase the great Australian cricketer Dean Jones would often use when he would describe a delivery that beat his bat, this entire process has "got big" on Welsh.

It would have been a whole lot easier for him had his interim coach, like Carlton's coach, been winning matches.

Wright's problem with his interim coach is a good problem. Welsh's problem is a bad one.

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