Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides has made the surprise comment that David Teague hasn’t been “given a fair go”, as speculation around the future of the Blues coach continues to swirl.
Teague is contracted as Carlton coach until the end of 2022, but he could be sacked at the end of the Blues’ 2021 campaign, which will wrap up in a clash with GWS at Docklands Stadium on Saturday.
Teague’s fate could be sealed on the back of the external review into Carlton’s football department, which was launched in June amid another dismal Blues season.
But Koutoufides does not think Teague should lose his job.
“Teaguey, I know the last couple of weeks he’s had a lot of injuries, whatever,” Koutoufides said on SEN.
“I just feel like I’m not sure if he’s been given a fair go to really coach the team.
“There’s a lot of factors that come into it.
“I’m just someone from the outside, so I don’t really want to get too deep into it, but I like the way he’s been coaching.
“I think they’ve been thereabouts. I know it hurts the last couple of weeks, and I feel the same way.”
Four-time Hawks premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, who’s set to oversee his final game in the Hawthorn hot set on Saturday, is one man considered a threat to Teague’s job.
Former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has even stated publicly that he’s open to taking on Carlton’s top gig, despite the fact he’s rejected Collingwood.
“Clarko is probably the best coach in the competition. Ross Lyon, who I knew when he was down at Carlton, is a wonderful man who did extremely well also,” Koutoufides said.
“It’s really going to come down to the board no matter what I say.”
Koutoufides was a member of the highly competitive Carlton teams of the 1990s, one of which won the 1995 premiership.
He says he’s often hassled by Carlton fans about returning to the Blues to offer assistance.
“I get asked all the time. Sometimes I get abused by people that I never really put myself out there,” Koutoufides said.
“I always say that the football club is everything to me and everything in my life was all about the Carlton football club. Everything I have now is because of it. I owe the club, I love the club and I was lucky I walked in at such a wonderful time.
“I want to see it back the way that it was.”
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