Although this did not result in a finals appearance, the season marked the end of one of the least successful periods in club history, which had seen five finishes in the bottom two between 2002 and 2007.
However, he stepped down from the role in June 2008, in order to face criminal charges relating to his packaging business, Visy.
Visy and competitor Amcor had been found guilty of price fixing in November 2007, but in June 2008, Pratt was personally charged with giving false and misleading evidence during the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's investigation of the cartel, and he stepped aside from the football club to face the charges.
[7] Denis Pagan, Carlton's appointed senior coach at the start of 2007, had been sacked after Round 16, bringing an end to a 4½ year tenure in the role.
[8] In the weeks following Pagan's dismissal, there was intense media speculation surrounding the possibility that former Brisbane Lions captain Michael Voss would be appointed as senior coach.
[9] Carlton did approach Voss as a potential candidate, but he withdrew from the selection process relatively early.
[10] Lance Whitnall, who had served as captain in the 2007 season, was delisted,[11] and Chris Judd was elected to the captaincy in his place, despite having not previously played a game for the Blues.
Judd had not been promised the captaincy as part of the conditions to trade him to the club, but his performance during the pre-season convinced the match committee and player group that he should take on the role.
Whitnall was only 28 years old, and had won the John Nicholls Medal only one season earlier in 2006, but the club was concerned that his degenerative knee injury would limit his output.
[11] In late January and early February, the Carlton and Fremantle Football Clubs travelled to South Africa; both clubs held community camps on the tour to promote development of Australian rules football in South Africa, and the tour concluded with an exhibition match in Centurion.
[36] The 99-goal tally was the highest of Fevola's career, but it was not enough to win the Coleman Medal, with Hawthorn's Lance Franklin kicking 102 goals in the home-and-away season.
[38] On 16 March, less than a week before the opening match of the season, an intoxicated Brendan Fevola was caught urinating outside a Melbourne nightclub.
The club demoted Fevola from its leadership group – into which he had been elevated two months earlier[13] – fined him $10,000, and put him on formal notice that no further alcohol-related off-field indiscretion would be tolerated;[14] this ultimatum was ultimately enacted following the 2009 season, when he was traded to Brisbane Lions following drunken behaviour at that season's Brownlow Medal Count.
Fevola was goalless in the first half of the game, scoring two behinds from four opportunities, but then kicked seven of Carlton's eight second-half goals to bring his final tally to 99.
[46] The following other awards were presented on John Nicholls Medal night:[46] Chris Judd finished in fifth place in the Leigh Matthews Trophy for 2008.
Alex Jesaulenko, who played 256 games and won four premierships with Carlton between 1967 and 1979, was elevated to the status of Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
[57] Carlton listed player Jason Saddington, who played two games at AFL level during the season, won the Laurie Hill Trophy as the Bullants' best and fairest.