Michael Voss was out grabbing a morning coffee when he sprang into action to stop an alleged teenage car thief who crashed a stolen Mercedes just over 18 months ago.
Now, Voss has revealed that he has struck up an unlikely friendship with the youngster and has been mentoring the 16-year-old in the wake of the incident.
In August 2024, the 50-year-old footy coach had gone for a walk to the Barton Milk Bar in Hawthorn to grab a cup of coffee when a grey Mercedes skidded onto the pavement and rolled onto its side.
Two individuals hopped out of the car and began to sprint away from the scene, but Voss, who made 289 top-flight footy appearances for the Brisbane Lions, stepped into action, pursuing one of the teenagers on foot before tackling the individual and performing a citizen’s arrest.
Thankfully, no one was injured during the ordeal, with police later arriving and arresting a 16-year-old.
During an episode of Footy and Friends, Voss joked that he would never be jumping into action as he did that day again, but added that he had been working with the youngster to find out more about his story.
Carlton coach MIchael Voss has revealed that he has taken up a mentoring role for a teenager who he performed a citizen’s arrest on in 2024
It came after two young men had crashed a Mercedes while Voss (left) was on his coffee run
‘Obviously that whole situation unfolded, I would never do that again,’ he said on the podcast, reflecting on the citizen’s arrest. ‘I’ll leave that to our emergency services… they do a great job, so I’ll leave that in their capable hands.
‘What it did actually do was hook up an unexpected connection,’ Voss added.
‘I was reached out [to from] a mentor of his that he was assigned. He sent the email out requesting to meet. I thought: “Yeah, why not?”
‘He’s obviously a 16-year-old young man that’s trying to find his way and did the wrong thing, and [I thought] I’d really love to hear his version of events.’
‘So I just enjoyed [hearing] about his story and his background and where he’s from, and I’m not going to go into any of those sorts of details.
‘But hopefully there were some things that gave him a little bit of motivation to follow through on a few things that he’s been able to do. I’m hoping that goes in the direction that he wants in his life.
‘It was an unexpected reach-out, and I don’t think they were expecting an answer.’
Voss then reflected on his wider role as an AFL coach, adding that he wasn’t just a tactician but a mentor as well.
Voss managed to tackle one of the offenders and make a dramatic citizen’s arrest
The 50-year-old retired from professional footy back in 2006 and, after a brief spell working for Channel 10’s commentary team, jumped into coaching.
He’d first join up with the West Coast Eagles as an assistant coach for the 2008 season, before succeeding Leigh Matthews as the Brisbane Lions’ senior coach at the end of that year.
Voss stayed with his former club for four years before moving to take over as an assistant at Port Adelaide under Ken Hinkley in 2015.
After seven years with the Power, Voss returned to take up a senior coaching role, being appointed Carlton president in 2022.
‘What we do [as AFL coaches], really, at the end of the day, we mentor young men, we mentor young people,’ Voss said.
‘And I think what I love the most about coaching is just being able to see people get what they want; that magic moment when you have that realisation and someone finally gets it.
‘They haven’t got it for a while but then they learn a craft. That’s what lights me up, to be able to see that.
‘So I feel like that whole club coaching is great, but I look for those little wins in people that just make you feel a little bit special about why you’re actually doing what you’re doing.
‘Sometimes they come later, sometimes you don’t even know you’ve done it.’