Premiership coach John Longmire has been left stunned by Carlton’s decision to drop “salt of the earth” Blue George Hewett for Gather Round, suggesting coach Michael Voss’ main reason must be keen to tweak his midfield mix.
The under-siege Blues (1-3) on Wednesday night dropped a selection bombshell, omitting Hewett for their Gather Round clash against Adelaide just six months after he claimed Carlton’s best and fairest award.
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Hewett, too, led the Blues in both disposals (22) and tackles (7) in their loss to North Melbourne last week – although his average numbers are well down on his career-best 2025 campaign.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday night, Longmire – who coached Hewett during the on-baller’s six seasons at Sydney – said Voss wouldn’t have made the call because Hewett had dropped his standards.
“My first reaction was it certainly wouldn’t be for a discipline thing or anything like that,” Longmire told AFL 360. “He is a salt of the earth person, George Hewett. One of those blokes you’d love to have at your footy club. A ripper, an absolute A-grade person.
“The only conclusion I could come to would be they’re trying to change up their midfield mix. So it’ll be really interesting to see what they do with their midfield group (Thursday) night and that first centre bounce, who replaces him in that midfield group?
“Sometimes you feel like you need to (send a message as a coach) … maybe it is a message considering he’s a best and fairest winner from last year, but it wouldn’t be for his lack of trying or lack of tackle or lack of pressure. Sometimes you make a decision based upon that, the highly talented player where you’d be able to say: ‘That’s enough, we’re not just relying on talent here, we need to reward hard work.’ But that’s not George Hewett, he’s a hard worker.”
AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley said it was a “jolting” decision, while Melbourne legend Garry Lyon said he “didn’t see it coming”.
“It’s a statement piece,” Lyon told AFL 360.
“He (Voss) wouldn’t have done it on a whim. I went back and had a look at it – we did the game last week – and we all see things differently when we’re outside the tent, so what he (Hewett) has been coached clearly Michael has a bit of an issue with.
“Externally watching as a bystander, he wasn’t the worst. He was their leading possession-winner in the game last week against North Melbourne and, more significantly for me given what I’ve been banging on about over the last few weeks, he was their leading tackler.
“But surprises are good sometimes, because it opens your eyes to what’s going on at a footy club.
“What will happen – I’m sure of this – is that the rest of that group will sit up and take notice, because I know he’s an enormously respected player and he does things right and he’s the sort of guy you’d love to have in the team. If he goes then they’re all in danger. So it’s a message.”
Dual premiership Kangaroo David King said he was surprised by Carlton’s decision considering it was already without Jacob Weitering – “sometimes you lean on your senior players for a bit more” – but added it could have a positive impact on the team.
“I like a statement. If you’re going to go down, you go down on your terms,” King told Fox Footy’s First Crack Preview.
“You’ve got to set a standard for the football club – and we’ve been asking that of Essendon and asking that of Carlton – and sometimes you’ve got to jolt the whole place to say: ‘If he can miss, as good a player as he is and as solid citizen as he is, if we’re prepared to leave him out, don’t you let us down in A, B and C.”
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