With Michael Voss resigning as head coach of Carlton, this is the 9th time since 2001 that an AFL club has cut ties with a coach (or changed coach) the game before playing the Western Bulldogs.

Round 16, 2001: St Kilda sacked Malcolm Blight after his memorable 15-game tenure (In which the Saints won 3 out of 15 games) ended with a massive 97-point defeat in Round 15 to Blight’s former club Adelaide, with Grant Thomas taking over as caretaker before the Saints played the Bulldogs in Round 16, with the Bulldogs ultimately winning by 34 points, which did put Terry Wallace’s team in the Top 8 until they won just 1 out of their last 6 games to miss the Finals… on the flip side, despite winning just 1 of 7 games under Thomas in 2001, the Saints would retain him as coach and oversee a young team that rose up the ladder in the following seasons.

Round 13, 2004: After Adelaide’s 2004 season collapsed following a string of finals failures, Gary Ayres resigned as coach of the Crows after being informed he would not have his contract extended into 2005, with the Round 13 game against the Bulldogs serving as his last game as coach of the Crows, which was also inaugural Crow Nigel Smart’s last AFL game – The Crows won a high-scoring game by 32 points, with Neil Craig becoming the caretaker and later the full-time coach of the club until 2011, while the Bulldogs would follow suit and dismiss Peter Rohde at season’s end, to be replaced by Rodney Eade.

Round 11, 2009: After constant pressure following a poor start to 2009, Terry Wallace resigned as coach of Richmond before the Round 11 game against the Bulldogs, ironically the club that Wallace played for and coached (Between 1996 and 2002) – After a high-scoring 1st Half, the Bulldogs kicked away and won by 68 points on a Friday night, kicking 13 goals to 2 in the 2nd Half… Jade Rawlings took over as caretaker at Richmond, before Hawthorn assistant Damien Hardwick was signed for 2010.

Round 13, 2009: Barely a fortnight later, lightning strikes twice as Dean Laidley (Now Danielle Laidley) resigned as coach of North Melbourne in the middle of her 7th season with the Kangaroos slumping to 4-8 at the midseason break after consecutive finals appearances, with Darren Crocker taking Laidley’s place ahead of the Round 13 game against the Bulldogs, who ultimately won that game by 22 points after the game was in the balance at 3/4 time.

Round 16, 2010: 2004 premiership coach Mark Williams resigned as coach of Port Adelaide after 11 years and coached his last game in Round 15 against Collingwood, with Matthew Primus becoming caretaker ahead of the Round 16 game against the Bulldogs in Darwin – Ultimately, the Bulldogs win the game by 36 points, although Primus won 5 out of the next 6 games to get the job full-time for 2011… it ended rather badly.

Round 10, 2019: Brad Scott resigned as coach of North Melbourne after a strategic review following North’s 2-7 start to the season that had them 17th on the ladder, going on to coach his last game against the Bulldogs in Round 10 – The Roos overcome a Bulldogs comeback to win the game by 25 points, with Rhyce Shaw taking over as caretaker, doing a decent job and eventually getting the job full-time… the Kangaroos have since won 24 out of 139 games.

Round 18, 2019: After being told he would not have his contract renewed for 2020, Alan Richardson resigned as St Kilda coach after Round 17, leaving former Carlton coach turned Saints assistant Brett Ratten as the caretaker before the Round 18 game against the Bulldogs, who were the in the hunt for a finals spot – The Saints dominated the game and won by 27 points, Ratten got the job full-time, and a year later the teams played in an Elimination Final with the Saints winning by 3 points in their first finals win since 2010… coincidentally, that 2010 win was also against the Bulldogs.

2025: Simon Goodwin is sacked by Melbourne days after the Round 21 game against West Coast (Which Melbourne won by 83 points to confirm the Eagles as Wooden Spooners), with a slide down the ladder in 2025 being the culmination of several disappointing seasons after the 2021 premiership, with assistant Troy Chaplin taking over for the remainder of the season, with his first game in charge being against the Bulldogs in Round 22… the Bulldogs came from behind to win by 6 points in a highly entertaining game, which featured Sam Darcy’s Mark of the Year, keeping their finals chances alive, while Chaplin ultimately lost all 3 games in charge of the Demons, who eventually signed Steven King for 2026.

So all up, the Bulldogs are 5-3 in those games, but wait, there’s still more!

Other instances of one-off coaching changes:

Round 18, 2005: Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews missed the Round 18 game against the Bulldogs after his mother Lorna passed away that day (July 30, 2005), leaving assistant John Blakey to coach the Lions in the Saturday night game at the Telstra Dome – The Bulldogs won an almighty shootout by 28 points (151 to 123), at one stage leading by 47 points in the 2nd Quarter, before the Lions came all the way back and took the lead 12 minutes into the last quarter, only for the Bulldogs to kick 8 goals in the next 14 minutes.

It was the only game Matthews missed as a head coach between his appointment as Collingwood coach in Round 4, 1986 until his retirement in 2008, in which time he coached 466 games.

Round 2, 2022: The aforementioned Michael Voss tested positive for COVID-19 after his successful Carlton coaching debut in Round 1 against Richmond, leaving assistant coach (and former West Coast premiership player) Ashley Hansen to coach the Blues in the Round 2 game against the Bulldogs on a Thursday night, but thanks to accurate goalkicking, the Blues hold on to win by 12 points as the Bulldogs dominated general play in the last quarter but kicked 2.7.

Fun fact – Hansen was an assistant coach at the Bulldogs between 2013 and 2021, coaching Footscray to the 2016 VFL Premiership… he had signed as the forwards coach at Carlton for 2022, but in 2026 it will be former No.1 draft pick Josh Fraser that gets the Carlton caretaker job.