Forget the injuries, an AFL great says the sliding Blues are no longer a flag threat and risking another “wasted year.”
Carlton was thrashed by Hawthorn by 74 points in a horror day at the MCG compounded by widespread injuries as it anxiously awaits scans on Charlie Curnow (ankle), Adam Saad (hamstring), Jack Martin (hamstring), Lachie Fogarty (shoulder) and Jordan Boyd (adductor).
It saw the Blues, who’ve lost five of their last six games, drop out of the top eight for the first time since Round 19 last year despite sitting in the top two a few short weeks ago, having been widely seen as the No. 2 seed in the flag race to Sydney.
And Saints legend Leigh Montagna believes regardless of whether Michael Voss’ side can climb back into the top eight ahead of clashes against West Coast (Optus Stadium) and St Kilda (Marvel Stadium) on the run home, its current brand won’t hold up in September.
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“The Blues are officially in free fall … not just their top four or premiership aspirations, their chances of playing finals are now hanging by a thread and they’re going to be dependent on other results,” he said on Fox Footy’s The First Crack.
“It was a disaster (against Hawthorn) and not just because of the significant injuries … even if you just take the first half when the injuries weren’t a factor, what they dished up was terrible.
“The way they were sieved as a team defence, even if they do make finals, that won’t hold. They looked like a rabble at times the way they were trying to defend the Hawks.
“Carlton was all at sea, it looks like they’ve lost confidence in the way they want to defend. It’s fallen apart and become really inconsistent. Their defensive numbers are starting to head towards bottom six territory.
“Their pressure was only at 161 for the first half, they conceded over 30 entries and got scored against more than one in two – it looked like a completely different side to what we saw in the middle of the year.
“Even if they do make it, I don’t think with the way they’re playing now they’re going to be a threat.”
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Montagna thinks it’s shaping as a big missed opportunity given Carlton’s star-studded list.
“It’s looking like another wasted year for Carlton with this top-end talent they’ve got,” he added.
“They’re probably still going to have the All-Australian key forward in Charle Curnow, the All-Australian key defender (Jacob Weitering) and they might have the Brownlow medallist (Patrick Cripps) – similar to 2022 – and not play finals.
“Michael Voss has some serious work to do if he can get them both physically and mentally in the right shape to be a contender.”
Dual premiership Kangaroo David King believes Carlton’s injuries do need to be acknowledged – with the likes of Tom De Koning (foot) and Adam Cerra (hamstring) also sidelined – given how disrupted the side has been in recent weeks.
“Health has killed them though, we always say health is your best player,” King said.
“You put (Matt) Cottrell and Cerra in, (David) Cunningham is probably better than some they’re picking at the moment … De Koning is a massive out.
“(Orazio) Fantasia and Martin are probably different because they just don’t play regularly enough.
“Even coming into this round, I think they’ve played the most players outside of the Suns over the last six weeks. This is not the time of year when you need this run of outs.”
Source Agencies
