Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has unloaded on Carlton following Thursday night's 21-point loss to Collingwood.
The Blues slumped to a 0-2 record for the ninth straight year, with only five of the last 58 teams recovering from that mark to play finals.
It builds pressure on David Teague's team in a season where expectations at Ikon Park are the highest they have been in several years, coming off an off-season coup where they acquired Adam Saad and Zac Williams.
SEE ALSO: Collingwood feel the burn of Thursday night win with Elliott set for surgery
Cornes, who is never shy to dish out some criticism to the Blues, took aim at the club's back six, in particular Lachie Plowman.
“New year, same Carlton,” Cornes told SEN's The Captain’s Run.
“They have invested in their midfield and running defence during the trade period, but perhaps they should have turned their attention to their key defenders.
“Jamie Elliott was matched up on the highly frustrating Lachie Plowman – and Plowman made Elliott look like Gary Ablett Snr in the first term.
“Plowman was moved off Elliott onto De Goey after quarter time – it took De Goey one minute to kick another goal on him and if it wasn’t Elliott or De Goey outmarking Plowman, it was (Will) Hoskin-Elliott.
No way Taylor Adams 🤯#AFLBluesPies pic.twitter.com/kQka9W3Fn6
— AFL (@AFL) March 25, 2021
“It’s perplexing how he retains his position in the Carlton side every week.
“It’s hard to think of a worse start from a defensive back six with so much riding on the result.
“Carlton’s midfield numbers didn’t help, the lack of pressure up the ground was stark, and most of Collingwood’s 13 first quarter entries were under little or no pressure.”
Coming off a Round 1 loss to Richmond where you would have expected them to come out breathing fire, Cornes also called out the Blues' lack of desperation and pressure, pointing to their 41 tackle count.
It was dwarfed by the Pies' 65 tackles despite the men in black and white winning the disposal count 371 to 346.
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The Power games record holder believes the writing is on the wall for the Blues to miss the eight again.
“They laid only 41 tackles for the entire game and 10 players had one tackle or less. All this with the prospect of Carlton going 0-2 for the ninth straight year,” Cornes added.
“Although the season is in its infancy and they have favourable match-ups against Freo and Gold Coast in the next two weeks, the stats would suggest they’re staring down the barrel of missing the eight again.
“From what we’ve seen so far this season - they’re miles away – the pressure is coming and rightly so.”
Carlton will look to gets its first win on the board in 2021 against Fremantle next Sunday at Marvel Stadium at 3.20pm AEDT.
