Will Faulkner - Fox Footy (03.08.2026)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
I, um, I can't stop scratching my downtown. Mm-hmm, yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown.
Some things you'd rather type than say out loud.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:19)
There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI.
Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24-7. Health care just got less painful.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:30)
Howdy, shoppers. Fire up that propane grill and settle in for a new season of Hulu's hit animated series, King of the Hill. Hank and Peggy are staying active in retirement.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:38)
That's a dog.

**Mark Duffield** (0:39)
You will not have to lift a finger.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:41)
Bobby and Connie hard-launched their relationship.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:43)
Now that we're dating, it's important your parents know I'm a man.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:47)
And the alley guys are, well, they're still the alley guys.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:50)
Yup.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:51)
Watch the new season of the Hulu original series, King of the Hill. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. With terms applied, this has been a paid advertisement.

**Will Faulkner** (1:10)
There you go.

**Mark Duffield** (1:12)
Lovely little guitar riff there to lead us in to Will Faulkner from Fox Footy. Joins us on the line now. Will, welcome.

**Will Faulkner** (1:20)
Thank you for having me, Duff. Pleasure as always.

**Mark Duffield** (1:24)
Josh Fraser, is he the football story of the year so far?

**Will Faulkner** (1:29)
I think he has to be. I mean, when you look at his record now, 9-2, and arguably one of the best performances we've seen from any team across the last few years, I don't think it's a stretch to say that. To beat the back-to-back reigning premieres by 76 points, it is simply incredible. And it was the man that I did it as well. It was the highest score in 14 years.
Fraser could not have got any more out of his club if he tried these last 11 weeks. And it is the perfect runway and the perfect presentation to those who are ultimately going to decide who Carlton's next coach is. And we're all expecting him to officially throw his hand in the ring at some stage this week as he's flagged in his post-game press conference. So he's the man for this job. And I don't think anyone would envy Carlton or put Carlton down for putting him at the helm from next year on, because it's been an incredible run. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how he's gone so far.

**Mark Duffield** (2:25)
I think he could scarcely have been more impressive than what he's been. And clearly, if he does throw his hat in the ring, which we would assume would happen, I think it's about Wednesday, isn't it, is the date we're expecting the deadline day for him to make a decision either way. And obviously, he's had a bit on with, unfortunately, the passing of his father in the last week, which makes the performance against Brisbane even more remarkable, I think, from Carlton, that he was able to get the team and the players together with that in the background. But yeah, if he goes, if he says, I'm in, does that absolutely give him the job, do you think? Is there any way that the Blues could go past him if he puts his hat in the ring?

**Will Faulkner** (3:12)
I think there's a world they could, and maybe it would be getting a read as to whether he would stay at the club if he were turned down for the role. I mean, they have some really good names who have thrown their hat in the ring for this job and have got past the preliminary interviews for the role. So it maybe just depends on what it looks like if they don't give it to him. If he's got to stay at the club regardless, maybe there's a world because they can still have him playing a pivotal role in their future. But if he leaves and he doesn't continue with the club, if he's turned down, maybe that's something the club needs to heavily consider. As I said, there are some really good assistant coach names in the ranks. And no one expected this would run from Carlton. So they may have gone a little bit further in their process behind closed doors as to what it would look like with a new coach at the club, one of those assistant coaches. But surely they have to have backlipped from this point. There's no one would blame Carlton for going back to an interim coach as their head coach like they did with David Teague and others before him.