Only ‘five, maybe six’ Blues would walk into any AFL club’s best 23… and that ‘just isn’t enough’

Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis believes there’s a glaring talent chasm at Carlton, suggesting only five or six players would walk into the best 22 of every club in the competition.

The Blues are one of five teams with a 0-2 record after Thursday night losses to Richmond and Hawthorn to start their 2025 campaign.

It comes after Michael Voss’ side surged into a preliminary final in 2023 then limped into September in 2024, only to suffer a humiliating elimination final loss to eventual premiers Brisbane.

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“Are they just not good enough?” Lewis asked on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night.

“You look at all their experience and then you put their team on paper – effectively their best 22 – and you say: ‘How many of those players would automatically step into any other side in the competition?’ I think this is a really good gauge on where the team is at.”

Lewis suggested Patrick Cripps, Jacob Weitering, Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay would be Carlton’s only walk-up starters at every AFL team with “an asterisk” on top-three draftee Jagga Smith, who’s sidelined for the entire 2025 season due to an ACL rupture.

“So five, maybe six players with the experience that they’ve got would step into every side in the competition,” Lewis said. “I think if you look at Geelong, you even look at Hawthorn – there’s probably 10 to 12 players. Brisbane would be the same.

“So that’s the challenge for sides, to try and put together a team of players that would be able to play in 18 other sides. Five just isn’t enough.”

Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown shared similar concerns, claiming there are “too many rushers and fumblers” at the Blues.

“Have they got too many role-type players in their team?” Brown asked on On The Couch.

“We get caught up in the big guns and go: ‘Gee, how good a list is Carlton’s?’ But when you put that list up and you go: ‘Oh gee, maybe they’re not.’

Seven-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley said the Blues still had several players who are prepared to “empty out” every game – he lauded small forward Matt Cottrell, especially – but added there’d be “a list of eight to 10 (players) you’d have question marks on their capacity to reach AFL level consistently”.

“It’s pretty hard to build a team around that. But if the team structure is right – and the way it was at the back-end of ’23 – then everyone lifts and knows what their role is,” he told On The Couch.

The Blues have now lost nine of their past 11 matches, dating back to Round 17 last year.

Buckley said Carlton continued to rely on too few players.

“If you look at the vision of ‘Vossy’ after the game (against Hawthorn) talking to his troops, the demeanour there looked like ‘we’re on the right track’ … But those numbers (past 11 match results) are pretty harrowing for the Carlton faithful, players and coaches,” Buckley said.

“Carlton worried them (the Hawks) in some shape or form, but TDK (De Koning) and Patty Cripps can’t do any more. They’ve played two nine-out-of-10 games, there just hasn’t been enough coming to the party with them to be able to get the chocolates.

“I just think with even they’re most talented players, when there’s a drop-off they drop-off too far.

“Out of stoppage, bursting forward, tall forwards that were relaunching at the ball, small forwards that were really putting pressure on, playing the game in their front half – towards the end of ’23 when we saw that, it was exciting as. And they were playing together as a unit, there was pressure all over the field – we’re not seeing that at the moment.

“So when you’ve exposed that level and you don’t find it for an 18-month period, the questions come – because there’s a reason they’re not there.”