Chris Davies' first year in the general manager of football role at IKON Park was nothing short of a rollercoaster.
The club moved on incumbent coach Michael Voss after a disastrous 1-8 start, enjoyed relative and intoxicating success under interim coach Josh Fraser, became the first lower-ranked side to win a Wildcard Round final just weeks after handing "Frase" the full-time gig, before ultimately being pantsed by the Geelong juggernaut in an elimination final.
Mere days after that reality check, the club moved to delist seven of its fringe players, adding father-son fairytales Ben and Lucas Camporeale to that list, days later.
Davies, speaking to Carlton's in-house media team, did not shy away from the necessity of these aggressive decisions.
“I don't want to be that guy who brings everyone down, but at the same time, we've got to look at the season in a fashion that takes the good and the bad out of it, and understand that this club deserves better than to be eighth," Davies said.
"The only way that we're going to be able to get in better shape in the future is to come prepared to the start of pre-season. We need to work, (and) to hit this off-season period to try and get our list better, to front up next year ready to go."
Amid a period of change for the club's on and off field personnel, Davies admitted the cuts take their toll, but improvement necessitates them.
“When you're making the number of changes that we ended up doing, you do get a sense of how this list needs to evolve into the future," he said.
"At the end of every year, typically, there's staff that leave. We're searching for what's next. Those changes happen from a list standpoint.
"There's been some tough calls made - you make no bones about that - you've got to make tough calls in order to move the group forward and try and find a recipe for success in the future.
“It is a really difficult time, and you're dealing with people that have put their heart and soul, in many respects, into trying to be as good as they possibly can be as players. It's not a fun part of the job, ending people's time at the Carlton footy club, but equally, it's a responsibility that this position holds."
Despite the abrupt ending to the Blues' season, the positives are many, and the exposure of the club's recruits to prime-time, marquee matches under MCG lights in front of 90,000+ is certainly one of them, Davies believes.
“It was fantastic for me, as a supporter of this club for a long time to be involved in a game like that, and I know that for all of those players who came to our club this year - the two guys from Sydney, Benny Ainsworth from the Gold Coast - it was an experience that they had never been a part of.
"Obviously we were disappointed that Will Hayward couldn't be out there (due to injury), but he was in the coaches box for a period and that experience for him will be invaluable I'm sure."
