A season filled with hope and high expectations is likely over for Carlton, after another disappointing display in their matchup against the Eagles.
An undermanned West Coast outfit were without several key pieces but managed to defeat the Blues by 22 points on Sunday at the SCG.
The reaction after the match was bleak for a team who talked a big game in the preseason, but have once again failed to deliver on those expectations.
"Selfish" was the term used by Kane Cornes on SEN Breakfast when describing the brand of football that Carlton is playing with.
"I thought they would play finals this year. I had them in my eight. Their season is over at Round 12," lamented the 2004 premiership player.
“If you had said to the Blues fans that at Round 12 their season would be finished on the back of the hype around the pre-season, you would’ve fallen off your chair.”
Cornes believes that the poor performances and attitude of the players falls on Carlton coach David Teague.
“I want to hear less about execution. I want to hear more about team footy. It’s about what they do when they don’t have it. I want to hear more language from David Teague about how disappointing that has been," said Cornes.
The Port Adelaide games-record holder believes the problem is at the selection table. Cornes says he doesn't think the Carlton team is being picked on merit.
“I still think the team is being picked on reputation," Cornes said on radio.
“It starts at selection. You need to reward players doing it during the game and players that aren’t … I saw Marc Murphy have a goal kicked on him. He’s playing at half-forward, the ball turns over and (Luke Foley) kicks his first goal.
“Little things like that you have to punish at selection. I’m not sure David Teague could say they have any selection integrity at the moment."
"Once you start rewarding those selfless actions, players work out what they need to do. It needs to start there now.”
On Fox Footy's First Crack, David King had similar feelings about the issues plaguing the Blues.
“They’re not playing finals this year because of what they do without the football,” stated King.
“It’s not up to AFL standard, let alone top four or top six standard, and it’s not even close.”
King highlighted how many of Carlton's high profile and senior players are the ones who are letting the team down. In particular, Sam Docherty, Adam Saad and Zac Williams for their offensive-minded defence.
“Docherty’s been moved out of there (defence) because they can’t trust him on a man, so he’s been moved on a wing, and they just think it’s a one-man fix," said the two-time premiership player.
“(Adam) Saad, they didn’t trust it (stopping Liam Ryan) because he doesn’t want to defend. (Zac) Williams is asked to play a pseudo-midfield role despite being a half-back flanker - come up, be aggressive, be a goalscorer, be a threat for us."
Despite being critical of the players and their attitude, King still admits that coach Teague is under the most pressure. Normally a defender and optimist of Teague's, King is starting to get worried for his ex-Kangaroo teammate.
“I think he’s in real trouble right now," said King.
"I haven’t said that before.
“They’d be sitting back going ‘OK, Juddy said once upon a time we don’t want a guy with training wheels’ ... this (defence) is the reason David Teague’s job is under pressure right now.”
With the loss to the Eagles, the Blues fall 0-7 against the top-eight sides. For a team that was looking towards a finals push in 2021, performances like this just won't cut it.
West Coast entered the match missing Oscar Allen, Liam Duggan, Tim Kelly, Jeremy McGovern, Luke Shuey and Josh Kennedy from their best 22.
Due to these outs, Tim Watson was bullish about the Blues prior to the matchup. Carlton was, however, "smashed" around the ball by a depleted West Coast midfield, believes Watson.
“I was confident Carlton was going to win that game yesterday because of the desperation, because of the players the Eagles were missing, but the Eagles out-powered Carlton with the ball, they defended better as a team, they created more attacking drive," said Watson
“They got smashed around the ball and you’re desperate, you’re playing against West Coast. That was the part of the game I thought they were going to take away from the Eagles, but the longer it went the more power West Coast had around the ball.”
Watson referred to the "holes" around the ground that lead to easy ball movement for Eagles players. Carlton allowed too many uncontested and unpressured possessions, which made it easy for their opposition to dictate play.
“I think this is the area David Teague, he needs to improve that part of the way they play. What he does and doesn’t accept is what coaching is all about," he said.
Leigh Montagna agrees that the players and the Carlton system are to blame for their poor start to the season.
“Every player in a game of footy at times loses their opponent, loses track of where their man is, but that‘s why when you have systems," said Montagna.
“You can cover that (by saying) ‘You roll around, hey, I’ve got him, you stay here’.
“But now because there‘s an element of ‘I’ve got my man covered, you worry about you’, that’s where it starts to get ugly.”
While most of the criticism around the Blues has been negative, some experts believe that Carlton isn't too far off.
Garry Lyon sees the similarities between the Blues this season, and Melbourne of 2020.
“I see a fair bit of this Carlton group in Melbourne of yesteryear," Lyon said.
"Melbourne always had these star players in this group, but they weren’t getting any team success."
“Individually they were All-Australians and is well recognised, but collectively they weren’t.
He likens this situation to what Carlton is facing with future stars Weitering, Walsh and McKay.
“Now you look at this Carlton side, they’ve got Sam Walsh who’s a Brownlow contender, you’ve got Jacob Weitering one of the best fullbacks in the competition, you’ve got Harry McKay leading the Coleman Medal," said Lyon in defence of the Blues.
“The irony is Melbourne players stopped worrying about individual awards and now eight of them would be in the All-Australian team.
“That’s where Carlton needs to get to.”
With Carlton having the bye this week, it gives the club two weeks to make the necessary adjustments for their matchup against Greater Western Sydney.
While Teague has previously stated that senior players won't be used as statements at selection, it appears inevitable that something needs to change for the remainder of the season.
If Teague isn't willing to do that on the selection table, then the Carlton board might be doing that in the coaching department.
