Season of failure ends with limp surrender, as pressure mounts for Blues to contend in 2025

After playing the type of forgettable elimination final loss that Essendon and the Western Bulldogs have made into an art form this century, there can be no pats on the back for Carlton. This season was a failure based on the expectations many held for the Blues in 2024, their season completely derailing after quarter-time in round 17 when they squandered a five-goal lead to the Giants after making the strange decision to leave George Hewett out of their midfield. A disappointed and disappointing Carlton leave the ground after being eliminated from finals Credit: Getty Images But it wasn’t a waste and the Blues will remain contenders next season.

Until that point against the Giants the Blues sat second on the ladder. Patrick Cripps and Tom DeKoning were in red-hot form, Zac Williams and Alex Cincotta had spent the previous month transforming their look inside 50, and they had beaten Geelong by 10 goals just a fortnight earlier. Injuries were a crucial reason, but it would be a blue to think it was the only reason, while there is hope that the appointment Rob Inness to replace the retiring Andrew Russell as high-performance manager will deliver a change of fortune on this front.



Carlton did not play in a consistent, foolproof method throughout the season. Turnovers propelled their scoring in the opening rounds, then stoppages, then a mixture, then neither to the level that was required. All over: It was rugged night for Blues coach Michael Voss.

Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images That was the sum of it for 2024, and Michael Voss was well aware when he spoke after the elimination final loss to Brisbane about the need to find consistency in their game because inconsistencies rise to the surface in finals. Between rounds 16-24 as the losses mounted, and their ladder position slipped, the inconsistencies that had already been evident in the Blues’ game spread like an infection. They ranked 10th for points against, seventh for turnover score differential, 11th for clearance score differential, 10th for inside-50 differential and 10th for scores per inside 50.

Only four teams – the bottom three and Essendon – conceded more points in 2024. But they were top four overall for points scored. In their final nine games, they conceded more than 100 points against GWS, Western Bulldogs and the Hawks, and 99 points to the Lions in the final, laying bare their inability to defend the best, while their defensive 50 stoppages were the worst in the competition all season.

All those weaknesses came to the fore as the Brisbane Lions piled on the first 60 points of the elimination final in an embarrassing start to a final that made Carlton look like a trotter galloping as the mobile drew away in a harness race. 0-60 looked more like a day one total at the Gabba Test than a finals’ scoreline as the Blues seemed to think daylight saving had started a month or so early. That they brought such a lack of intensity to a final indicated they were consumed with getting to the starting line and not what needed to happen once they reached it.

Richmond were the same in the 2014 elimination final. Geelong led Collingwood 60-6 at half-time in the 2020 semi-final. A lack of cohesion was one reason they couldn’t match the best, with just three players playing all 24 matches as injuries hit harder than Patrick Cripps in the final three rounds, forcing them to introduce six underdone players for the final.

They also made the inexplicable – although they did try to explain it – decision to start DeKoning as the sub against the Lions while also leaving Alex Cincotta out when he appeared on paper the perfect match-up for Lions playmaker Dayne Zorko. Without Cincotta at his side, Zorko ran rampant in the first half. Tom De Koning was the sub but had an immediate impact when he returned Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images Carlton’s selection in the last eight rounds was all over the shop, to be blunt.

The lack of cohesion at selection is particularly harmful for the Blues because their list is not deep. Their fringe players, Corey Durdin, Jesse Motlop, Lachie Cowan, Lewis Young, Orazio Fantasia and Jack Carroll are all battling to be considered genuine AFL players at this stage. Caleb Marchbank, David Cuningham and Jack Martin managed 11 games between them, and unfortunately for those individuals, it’s time for Carlton to stop hoping they will be rebuilt.

It’s not all gloom and doom, however, as the Blues are on the up, even though they finished lower on the ladder than 2023. They are going through a phase many clubs, including Richmond, Collingwood, Hawthorn and even Geelong, have gone through in the past 20 years. For those clubs, disappointing finals exits were followed by seasons when it all clicked.

That’s why, as bad as their start to the elimination final was, it was worth making it. The experience will hold the Blues in good stead, and things will click, at some point, for Carlton under Voss and his tight band of coaches . Carlton must address their midfield speed.

They have a bunch of middle-distance runners rather than sprinters in there, and they also need to use handball to create overlap run. They just don’t do it enough. With a tight salary cap that will be tough except through the draft, so they need to learn to use the ball quicker, especially in the backline, where Nic Newman, Jacob Weitering and Mitch McGovern are often ponderous with the ball.

It was the Giants who showed the rest of the competition that Carlton can’t handle pace through the middle or forward of the football. They were exploited in that area for the rest of the season, most notably by Hawthorn, who were well on top in round 22 before the Blues decided to recreate a scene from M.A.

S.H on the bench, an episode that didn’t make Martin or Lachie Fogarty laugh. Cripps is a champion, but he appeared determined once again to win games off his own boot when the rot set in late in the season, and that tendency limited the overall capacity of Carlton’s midfield, while key forward Charlie Curnow was brave but unable to wrench victory from defeat when his leg injury became overwhelming.

Harry McKay eliminated the goalkicking yips. But it may be worth – albeit potentially sacrilegious – having a look at him behind the ball, where his marking ability might create valuable rebounding opportunities. Jack Silvagni’s absence was underrated and Adam Cerra’s season never took off.

Docherty’s return from a knee reconstruction in 183 days was a miracle, one Voss described with wonder as a one-off, and it also overshadowed how big a loss his drive from defence had been through the season. They have to get the Camporeale twins – Ben and Lucas – as father-son selections through the draft, which may or may not address their immediate needs, and their coaches are contracted and staying, so the boost needs to come from within. With club president Luke Sayers and CEO Brian Cook likely to depart at the end of next year, Cripps turning 30 at the start of the season and De Koning a free agent, 2025 is the year to make what Voss rightfully describes as the hardest leap of all; from merely making the eight to finishing top four and then winning the cup.

They have the top-end talent to make it work. If they don’t return to the preliminary final in the next two years, then they will have really failed. Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country.

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