Michael Voss and Carlton appear to be unwillingly losing their grip on one of their key defenders and the beleaguered head coach is not happy that it has become public knowledge.
It's no secret that the 27-year-old Jack Silvagni has been exploring his options for 2026 and beyond but the contract saga stepped up to a new level at the weekend when Collingwood head coach Craig McRae openly revealed last week that he has had discussions with Silvagni about a move.
"Yeah, I did," McRae confirmed to reporters last week of the meeting.
"I'm confident to say we'll keep exploring what the best version of us looks like, and when there's free agents available we'll keep exploring those things.
The Collingwood coach made no bones about his desire to poach the third-generation Carlton forward-turned-defender as a free agent, whilst ultimately acknowledging that the decision doesn't rest in his hands.
"I just met with a young man and … we had a first date to see if we like each other. Yeah, I could go on a second date with Jack."
Carlton head coach Michael Voss is still battling to secure his future with some encouraging late season results and the thought of an unsettled changing room or additional media attention is certainly one of the last thing he needs right now.
Whilst choosing to address the situation in diplomatic language, he couldn't hide his frustrations with his former Brisbane Lions teammate.
"It's unusual for a coach to announce something like that ... where I sit very much is respecting the privacy of the player," Voss said.
"Regardless of what Craig (McRae) did, it's not something we would do. We will respect the privacy of the player.
"It's not for me to announce something like that on behalf of someone, because they're the ones that have to walk back into the locker room.
"We'd choose not to make that sort of announcement."
Voss took the opportunity to make a public bid for Silvagni's signature during the press conference on Saturday.
“I want to be really clear: He’s a very important player for us. We value what he’s done, we value him at the football club and we’re certainly hoping he plays out the rest of his career with us.
“Jack’s had a really important role shift this year. It’s been a real win for us to see where he’s gone from forward to back.
“We hope the decision at the end of the day is he’ll be with us.”
However, it appears increasingly likely that Silvagni has played his last game in navy blue, for he is out for the rest of the season not only with groin troubles but also after having surgery on his hand that was broken in late April.
