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After holding top-four aspirations at the start of the 2012 season, Carlton had fallen well short and missed the eight completely. As a result Brett Ratten, club legend and senior coach for the previous five-and-a-bit years, was unceremoniously sacked.
His replacement, Mick Malthouse, has led the Blues to one finals appearance, and that came as a result of Essendon being booted from the top eight due to the supplements scandal.
Meanwhile Ratten was snared by Hawthorn as an assistant coach, and helped them to premiership-winning campaigns in 2013 and 2014.
In the interim, the team that finished fifth in 2011 has been torn apart. The ‘mosquito fleet’ forward set-up of Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett and Chris Yarran has been dismantled, with Betts and Garlett heading to Adelaide and Melbourne respectively, while Dennis Armfield has been languishing in the VFL.
Carlton’s defence was also reshaped to its detriment. Jeremy Laidler, who was one of Carlton’s most versatile, was completely ignored by Malthouse, and that led to him leaving for Sydney, where he is an important cog in a defensive structure that played last year’s grand final.
In recruitment, Dale Thomas was brought in from Collingwood after a season of ankle and Achilles injuries, on a four-year deal said to be worth $2.5 million. When he regains fitness and hopefully strings a few games together hopefully he will justify his lofty price tag, but thus far he has been a dud buy, as Carlton already had an impressive midfield unit.
Yet they still haven’t found the key forward they have been missing for years. Liam Jones has looked good when provided decent service, but that has been infrequent.
Now Malthouse is demanding a rebuild, meaning Carlton is going to go through more years of pain on another gamble. Yet Ratten took a very similar list to within a kick of a preliminary final.
The Blues clearly got this wrong.
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