High five: Where Fraser ranks among caretaker coaches

TAKING over mid-season is never a good sign, but the show must go on.

Caretaker coach roles aren't coveted positions, although they can lead to permanent gigs.

Since the turn of the millennium, there have been 31 caretaker coaches, including Josh Fraser and Dean Solomon in the same month this year, but only 10 have landed the gig full-time.

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Grant Thomas was the first in 2001, Peter Rohde and Paul Roos followed the following year, then Neil Craig, Brett Ratten for the first of two stints, Mark Harvey, Matthew Primus, and most recently, David Teague and Rhyce Shaw.

Teague won the role at Princes Park at the end of 2019 after leading the Blues to six wins from 11 games after Brendon Bolton was sacked.

Shaw stepped in when Brad Scott departed Arden Street in the same year and led the Kangaroos to seven wins from 12 games.

But after a three-win season in 2020, Shaw moved on from the Kangaroos, while Teague got through two full seasons at Carlton before being replaced by Michael Voss.

Fraser is now steering the ship at the Blues, following the departure of Voss after a 1-8 start to the season, and building a compelling case to be considered for the vacancies at Carlton and Essendon, even if he maintains his stance he isn't ready to be a full-time senior coach.

The 1999 No.1 pick has served an apprenticeship that stacks up with other first-time applicants. He has been coaching since 2014 when he led Gold Coast's reserves in the old NEAFL competition, then he joined Carlton two years later and coached the reserves in the VFL, then the Northern Bullants in 2021 and 2022, before returning to Collingwood as head of development for three years.

Last year, Fraser was lured back to Carlton to coach the forwards as part of a major football department reset. Now the 44-year-old is 5-0 and holds the best winning percentage of any caretaker coach to coach that many games.

Caretaker coaches since 2000 (min five games)

Fraser has nine more games ahead of him and the chance to return the Blues to finals, as they remain in the hunt for the wildcard spots. John Barker coached 14 games, which is the most this century by an interim coach, after taking over from Mick Malthouse at Carlton in 2015.

If Fraser maintains his current stance that now is not the right time for him and doesn't go through the process at either club, history tells us that this stint will count in his favour in future.

Back in 2023, Andrew McQualter led Richmond for the final 13 games after Damien Hardwick's bombshell decision to depart the Tigers mid-season. Steven King also took over from Stuart Dew at the Suns when he was sacked with seven rounds to go. Neither got those gigs, but now they are both among the 16 current full-time coaches in the AFL.

Simon Goodwin ended up becoming a senior coach after stepping in at Essendon in 2013 for James Hird, while Mark McVeigh (GWS 2022), David Hale (Fremantle 2019) and Troy Chaplin (Melbourne 2025) all have senior coaching ambitions down the track.

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