The 2008 Carlton Football Club season was the Carlton Football Club's 145th season, and 112th as a member of the Australian Football League.
The club saw many changes to key personnel in 2008, with champion Chris Judd coming to the club as a new captain, former club captain Brett Ratten appointed senior coach, and Stephen Kernahan replacing Richard Pratt as president mid-season.
Carlton finished 11th out of 16 teams with ten wins and twelve losses in the 2008 AFL season. Although this did not result in a finals appearance, the season marked the end of one of the least successful periods in club history, which had seen five finishes in the bottom two between 2002 and 2007.
Club summary The 2008 AFL season was the 112th season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; and, having competed in every season, it was also the 112th season contested by the Carlton Football Club.
As in previous years, the club's primary home ground was Telstra Dome, with home games expecting to draw larger crowds played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; the traditional home ground MC Labour Park continued to serve as the training and administrative base. The club's joint major sponsors were telecommunications provider Optus, unchanged from 2007, and car manufacturer Hyundai, newly signed for the 2008 season; it was the start of Hyundai's second long-term stint as a major sponsor of the club, having previously been the major sponsor from 1995 to 1999. As had been the case every year since 2003, Carlton had a full alignment with the Northern Bullants in the Victorian Football League, allowing Carlton-listed players to play with the Bullants when not selected in AFL matches.
Carlton set a new club record membership, with a total of 40,764 members for the season, a significant increase on the previous record, set in 2007, of 35,431. The club's improved onfield performances also resulted an increase in attendances far in excess of those budgeted by the club, allowing the club to post a healthy operating profit for the season.
Senior personnel
Presidency Businessman and long-time benefactor of the club, Richard Pratt, was president of the club at the beginning of the season. However, he stepped down from the role in June 2008, in order to face criminal charges relating to his packaging business, Visy. Visy and competitor Amcor had been found guilty of price fixing in November 2007, but in June 2008, Pratt was personally charged with giving false and misleading evidence during the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's investigation of the cartel, and he stepped aside from the football club to face the charges.
Pratt had served as president since February 2007. He was replaced by vice-president and former club captain Stephen Kernahan. The charges against Pratt were ultimately dropped, shortly before his death less than a year later in April 2009.
Senior coach Denis Pagan, Carlton's appointed senior coach at the start of 2007, had been sacked after Round 16, bringing an end to a 4½ year tenure in the role. Assistant coach and former club captain Brett Ratten, who had stepped in as caretaker coach after Pagan's dismissal, was appointed as the new senior coach for the 2008 season.
In the weeks following Pagan's dismissal, there was intense media speculation surrounding the possibility that former captain Michael Voss would be appointed as senior coach. Voss had retired from playing after 2006 and had no formal coaching experience, but was at the time considered likely to transition almost immediately into an AFL coaching role. Carlton did approach Voss as a potential candidate, but he withdrew from the selection process relatively early. By the end of the selection process, three potential coaches remained, with Ratten selected ahead of assistant coach Guy McKenna and assistant coach Chris Bond. The appointment was formally announced on 20 August 2007, with two matches still remaining in the 2007 season. Voss went on to coach for five years, then serve as an assistant at for seven years, before eventually joining Carlton as senior coach in 2022.
Captaincy and leadership Lance Whitnall, who had served as captain in the 2007 season, was delisted, and Chris Judd was elected to the captaincy in his place, despite having not previously played a game for the Blues. Judd had not been promised the captaincy as part of the conditions to trade him to the club, but his performance during the pre-season convinced the match committee and player group that he should take on the role. Nick Stevens was appointed vice-captain. Andrew Carrazzo, Kade Simpson, Heath Scotland and Brendan Fevola made up the balance of the six-man leadership group when it was appointed in January, but Fevola was stood down from the group prior to the premiership season for disciplinary reasons.
Squad and player statistics for 2008 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 2007) 2008 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 1 Andrew Walker 21 2004 Bendigo (U18) 742476213887514420 1 2 Jordan Russell 21 2005 West Adelaide 2952141326213020710969 – 3 Marc Murphy 20 2006 Oakleigh (U18) 351822141154233520713758 1 4 Bryce Gibbs 18 2007 Glenelg 221521143435242193118738 5 Chris Judd (c) 24 2002 Sandringham (U18), West Coast 134138211595082502584181 – 6 Kade Simpson (lg) 23 2003 Eastern (U18) 65382291441224217013761– 7 Adam Bentick 22 2004 Calder (U18) 541314 – 2 253 98 155 44 80 1 8 Matthew Kreuzer 18 2008 Northern (U18) ––2013119596995945183 9 Jason Saddington 28 1998 Eastern (U18), 160472 – – 26 11 15 12 3 – 10 Richard Hadley 24 2001 East Fremantle, 411062390414926273 11 Cain Ackland 25 2001 Port Adelaide (SANFL, AFL), 73251 – – 11 5 6 5 – 12 13 Luke Blackwell 21 2006 Swan Districts 234– – – – – – – – – 14 Brad Fisher 23 2003 Eastern Ranges 70932025 22 291210 81 15123 – 15 Steven Browne 18 2008 West Perth ––134215276763821 1 16 Shaun Grigg 19 2007 North Ballarat (U18) 5–20453141641508142– 17 Setanta Ó hAilpín 24 2005 Cork GAA 341512331297158411312 18 Paul Bower 19 2006 Peel 12212– 1 18091896116 – 19 Eddie Betts 21 2005 Calder (U18) 5760182510233143906233 1 20 Clint Benjamin 19 – Claremont ––– – – – – – – – – 21 Mark Austin 18 2007 Glenelg 1–4 – – 35 16 19 10 5 – 22 Shaun Hampson 19 2007 Mount Gravatt 21101–60263420682 23 Adam Hartlett 21 2007 West Adelaide 414 1 2 24 17 7 11 6 – 24 Nick Stevens 27 1998 Northern (U18), 19211022 17 6 517 304 213 113 60 1 25 Brendan Fevola (lg*) 26 1999 Dandenong (U18) 14238722 99 51 258 214 44 129 38 7 26 Joe Anderson 19 2007 Darwin 5 –4 – – 512724155 – 27 Dennis Armfield 21 2008 Swan Districts –– 92 111048621714 – 28 Cameron Cloke 23 2004 Eastern (U18), 271420 14 6 263 146 117 119 41 215 29 Heath Scotland (lg) 27 1999 Western (U18), Collingwood 1384121115503296207122451 30 Jarrad Waite 24 2003 Murray (U18) 851002175387256131138665 31 Jordan Bannister 25 2001 Calder (U18), 60135 2 – 53 40 13 32 6 – 32 Bret Thornton 24 2002 Oakleigh (U18) 1091191 2 3132189510620– 33 Ryan Houlihan 25 2000 Murray (U18) 15794553945638196 – 34 Simon Wiggins25 2001 Glenorchy 892014 12 5 181 74 107 79 26 1 35 Aisake Ó hAilpín 22 – Cork GAA ––– – – – – – – – – 36 Darren Pfeiffer 21 2008 Norwood, Adelaide ––7428044362617 – 37 Jake Edwards 20 2008 Western (U18) ––5 4 4 47 34 13 28 7 – 38 Ryan Jackson 20 2006 Northern (U18) 831 – – 10 7 3 3 1 – 44 Andrew Carrazzo (lg) 24 2004 Oakleigh (U18), Geelong 6316214353728225513365 3 Rookie List No. State Player Age AFL Debut Recruited from Career (to end 2007) 2008 Player Statistics Gms Gls Gms Gls B D K HB M T HO 39 Sam Jacobs 19 – Woodville-West Torrens ––––––––––– 40 Michael Jamison21 2007 North Ballarat (U18, VFL) 5–16 – 1 14298446129 – 41 Lachie Hill 18 – Oakleigh (U18) ––– – – – – – – – – 45 Aaron Joseph 18 – Tasmania (U18) –––––––––– – 46 David Ellard 18 2008 Swan Districts ––11–44–2– – For players: (c) denotes captain, (vc) denotes vice-captain, (lg) denotes leadership group. Players' ages are given for 31 December 2007. Statistics for AFL matches: Gms – Games played, Gls – Goals, B – Behinds, D – Disposals, K – Kicks, HB – Handballs, M – Marks, T – Tackles, HO – Hitouts. Source for statistics: AFL Tables.AFL Tables, 2008 Stats - Player Lists - Carlton. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
Playing list changes The following summarises all player changes between the conclusion of the 2007 season and the conclusion of the 2008 season.
Priority draft pick Having finished second-last in 2007, Carlton received the second selection in each round of the draft. Additionally, the club received a priority draft pick in the National Draft as a result of finishing the 2007 season with a record of 4–18; under the rules in place at the time, priority selections were given to all teams who earned fewer than 16.5 premiership points for the year.
Because Carlton had also received a priority draft pick in the previous season, this season's priority selection was taken before the first round of the draft, rather than before the second round. This gave Carlton the No. 1 draft pick for the third consecutive draft.
Trade for Chris Judd On 16 September 2007, shortly after his club was eliminated in the semi-finals, captain Chris Judd announced that he was leaving the club, and intended to return to a club in Melbourne for the remainder of his career. Aged 24, Judd was already a premiership captain, Brownlow Medallist, Norm Smith Medallist and Leigh Matthews Trophy winner with the Eagles, and was arguably the best player in the league at the time.
Judd met with four clubs – Carlton, , and – and on 2 October 2007, announced that Carlton was his preferred destination, leaving the clubs to negotiate the details of a trade. After informing West Coast early in negotiations that it would not be trading its number one draft pick for Judd, Carlton agreed to trade its first and second round draft picks (No. 3 and 20) and twenty-year-old key position prospect Josh Kennedy (a former No. 4 draft pick) for Judd and a third round draft pick (No. 46).
Delisting of Lance Whitnall Shortly after trade week, Carlton made the decision to delist captain Lance Whitnall. Whitnall was only 28 years old, and had won the John Nicholls Medal only one season earlier in 2006, but the club was concerned that his degenerative knee injury would limit his output.
In Player Previous club League via Chris Judd AFL AFL Trade Week, with pick No. 46, in exchange for Josh Kennedy and picks No. 3 and 20. Richard Hadley AFL AFL Trade Week, in exchange for pick No. 52. Matthew Kreuzer Northern Knights TAC Cup AFL National Draft, priority round (pick No. 1) Steven Browne West Perth WAFL AFL National Draft, third round (pick No. 36) Dennis Armfield Swan Districts WAFL AFL National Draft, third round (pick No. 46) Darren Pfeiffer AFL AFL Pre-season Draft, first round (pick No. 2) Aaron Joseph Tassie Mariners/Glenorchy U18 C'ships/SFL AFL Rookie Draft, first round (pick No. 2) Lachlan Hill Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup AFL Rookie Draft, second round (pick No. 18) David Ellard Swan Districts WAFL AFL Rookie Draft, third round (pick No. 34) Michael Shields Cork GAA GAA Recruited on an international rookie contract during AFL Rookie Draft, fourth round (pick No. 48)
Out Player New Club League via Anthony Koutoufides Retired from the AFL in late 2007 Matthew Lappin (ass't coach), Northern Bullants AFLVFL Retired from the AFL Josh Kennedy AFL AFL Trade Week, with picks No. 3 and 20, in exchange for Chris Judd and pick No. 46. Dylan McLaren Port Melbourne VFL Delisted Lance Whitnall Lalor NFL Delisted David Teague (dev. coach)Northern Bullants (playing coach)