Honeyball takes a look at the likely best 23 for Carlton ahead of the 2026 AFL season, noting ins and outs, key injuries, plus a look at relevant AFL Fantasy and SuperCoach players.
We’ve used quotes from Blues coach Michael Voss’ chat on afl.com.au’s Your Coach podcast to offer additional insight on relevant players.
Ins: Ben Ainsworth (trade, Gold Coast), Talor Byrne (No.45 draft pick), Campbell Chesser (trade, West Coast), Harry Dean (No.3 draft pick, father-son), Oliver Florent (trade, Sydney), Will Hayward (trade, Sydney), Jack Ison (No.47 draft pick, Academy), Liam Reidy (trade, Fremantle)
Outs: Jaxon Binns (delisted), Alex Cincotta (delisted), Charlie Curnow (trade, Sydney), Tom De Koning (free agent, St Kilda), Sam Docherty (retired), Corey Durdin (trade, Port Adelaide), Orazio Fantasia (delisted), Elijah Hollands (delisted), Harry Lemmey (delisted), Jack Silvagni (free agent, St Kilda), Will White (delisted)
Key injuries: Jacob Weitering (rib), Blake Cerra (hamstring), Nic Newman (patella), Nick Haynes (ankle), Matthew Cottrell (knee), Brodie Kemp (Achilles), Harry O’Farrell (knee), Jesse Motlop (ACL)
Predicted Opening Round 23
B: Lachie Cowan, Jacob Weitering*, Zac Williams
HB: Ollie Florent, Nick Haynes, Adam Saad
C: Ollie Hollands, George Hewett, Jagga Smith
HF: Ben Ainsworth, Harry McKay, Cooper Lord
F: Lachie Fogarty, Will Hayward, Francis Evans
Foll: Marc Pittonet, Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh
I/C: Harry Dean, Campbell Chesser, Ashton Moir, Elijah Hollands, Liam Reidy
*Injury cloud
Relevant players
Jagga Smith
Carlton coach Michael Voss: “I can say that if he’s fit, he’s probably going to play. He’s had a great pre-season. Over the course of this pre-season, I think he’s only just got stronger again. He’s copped a lot of attention, quite clearly, but we obviously rated him very highly. That’s why we traded up in the first instance. We think back 18 months ago to whenever he was drafted … we felt like he was the best player in the draft. That’s how highly we rated him.”
Harry Dean
Voss on an Opening Round debut: “It’d be too early to absolutely, definitely make the call. I’ll tell him first, before I tell you. But I can say it’s definitely heading in the right direction.
“We think he’s an outstanding young man and he’s a great competitor. He’s a chip off the old block, in a lot of ways. Where we can, we’ll give him as much time to develop. All people need to know is if that’s time in the VFL, because that’s where we think it’s best being a young, developing key position defender, then so be it. But if we feel like it’s time to play AFL football and feel like he’s ready, then you know he’s ready.”
Nic Newman, Sam Walsh, Liam Reidy, Wade Derksen, Talor Byrne
