Jonathan Horn - Guardian Australia Sports Columnist (04.08.2026)

**Mark Duffield** (0:02)
There he is again, the horny one.
Yes, Jonathon Horn joins us on the show now. Jonathon, welcome.

**Jonathan Horn** (0:12)
Hello, Duff, how are you, mate?

**Mark Duffield** (0:13)
I'm very well, thank you, mate. And the, might be the biggest story of the year, I reckon, Josh Fraser and his possible ascension to the coaching throne permanently at Carlton. Where are we seeing this at the moment? Is there any doubt about Josh Fraser being the Carlton coach next year if he wants the job?

**Jonathan Horn** (0:35)
Surely not, Duff. I think he wins the job if he wants the job and if he actually thinks he's ready for the job. I just don't think he could have done it. He's just played it perfectly, even in the two losses that he's had. He's played those perfectly. I think that we hear a lot about process and we hear about PowerPoint presentations and strike tests and all these things that they do with new coaches. But what's better than a PowerPoint presentation is winning nine games from 2011 and beating the last two premieres by 13 goals and taking really what was a demoralized group and making them really exciting and a really good team again. So I think he has to be the favorite. I think the only shred of doubt over this is, does he actually think he's ready?
And I think, from afar, that he's definitely ready now, Duff.

**Mark Duffield** (1:33)
Yeah, and I get the feeling that this has a bit of now or never about it. I mean, if he does this for the best part of three months, and it's going to be more than three months by the time he finishes, and if they beat St Kilda this week, there'll be at least one final as well. On top of that, I'm calling the wild card round finals. I'm not sure I should, but that's the way I'm going with it.
So that's going to be three and a half, maybe four months of coaching. I mean, really, if you can do that, you can take the job full time. So if he's in doubt about his ability to do that now, or he want to do that now, I wonder whether clubs will be able to trust that he's ever all in on the senior coaching position in the future. So I get the feeling this is about Josh Fraser's career ambitions and not just his ambitions for 2027

**Jonathan Horn** (2:25)
And if he doesn't want it, he might end up like a like a Nigel Lapton, who's just someone who's really, really highly regarded as an assistant or as a development coach, but just doesn't want all the hoo-ha that comes with being a senior coach. But I just think that Fraser can handle that and has handled that. And I think he's done it in a really sort of in a way that suits Carlton, because Carlton is a very loud, emotional club that from presidents to the supporters, to the benefactors that kind of ride that roller coaster like few other clubs. And I just think clubs like that need a really even-tempered, low-key coach. I think it really suits the club to sort of have that counterbalance.
I think to some extent, it's a little bit different, but to some extent, we see that at Freemantle with Longmure, in that he's the perfect temperament and personality for that club. And I think that Fraser would be too at Carlton. I think that they need someone who can just sort of keep an even keel through what's a pretty up and down kind of experience, is the Carlton experience.

**Mark Duffield** (3:37)
You know what's fascinating about all this is the emergence of rucks as AFL senior coaches. So you have Justin Longmure at Fremantle. Now I know Justin was part forward, part ruck, but he's on top of the ladder. You've got Dean Cox at Sydney, currently sitting second. You got Stephen King at Melbourne, taking the Ds back into the top six and maybe even the top four by the end of the home and away season. And then you've got Josh Fraser emerging at Carlton as the guy most likely to coach the team next year. I think it's fascinating that what my mate Ron Alexander used to call big dumb Jackman, they actually make pretty good footy coaches.

**Jonathan Horn** (4:16)
I remember having a conversation, I probably had too much time on my hands about 12 months ago, with someone who posed the question, name someone over six foot two, who's ever actually coached an AFL Premiership. And you sort of have to rack your brain, I think Blighty was the only one at the time.