Carlton senior coach Brendon Bolton is under increasing scrutiny after his side fell agonisingly short against Gold Coast on the weekend to make it four losses on the trot to start the 2019 AFL season.
Club director Chris Judd publicly backed Bolton after what he described as a “gut-wrenching” loss to the Suns, telling Footy Classified he still believes the 39-year-old is the right man for the job.
“I’m fully expecting that Brendon will be the coach at the end of this year and into the future,” Judd said.
“I think he’s going to be the long-term coach of the football club.”
Appearing on the Game of Codes podcast on Thursday, Roar AFL Expert Jay Croucher also shifted blame away from Bolton, arguing Carlton’s results reflect the quality of its list and that the pressure on its senior coach is very much overblown.
Carlton has lost 33 of its last 36 games under Bolton, who will be hoping his side can buck the trend against the Western Bulldogs in round five.
The Bulldogs have shown promise in the opening four weeks of the season and won’t be an easy scalp for the Blues, who were visibly shaken by their two-point loss to the Suns on Sunday afternoon.
Listen to the full episode below or subscribe to Game of Codes on iHeartRadio and Apple Podcasts.
Mathew CRICHTON
Guest
Its not #$@! good enough. To watch another belting to a half baked North Melbourne side was just down right depressing. How long can we keep making excuses after excuses that we are still in rebuild mode. Its not #$@! good enough. The way we played today was a disgrace. I have followed the Blues for forty years and I'm at the point now where I think I will just go surfing and forget the #$@% footy. Bolton, after 4 years, surely you could do better than throw us the same old cliques in a after match press conference after a loss. I'm fed up with this #$@%.
Peter
Guest
They won a game - quick sign Bolton up for another 4 years!
Adam Wallace-Mitchell
Guest
How stupid does this question look now! Just another media "crisis" campaigner....
DingoGray
Roar Guru
They don’t face half the issues the Lions do because they are Heartland Club. The Lions rather picking the best player available now have to try and Drafts mates in attempt to keep them at the Club. The fact the Lions have managed to grab Neale this year is good sign but offset straight away by Beams returning home. The Lions list still has massive holes in ability wise and argue very hard to fix the pull home to heartland states is so strong. Look at the mess the Suns are right now. GWS has only sustained its competitive ness from all the extra Draft concessions they’ve had.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
I think Charlie probably being impacted by comparison. I think McKay made some serious leaps this year which probably means Charlie looking that he’s not having the impact he may have had last season. I actually think a more attacking thinking coach would do wonders for the Blues because they have a pretty good forward line.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Well think it would be pretty obvious that negative Bolts can’t start with only 3 forwards and 9 backmen like he often did last year at Centre bounces. There would be some variance to stats at either end for sure. The rankings would be an interesting indicator to overall affects of the 6 6 6
Jezza Jones
Guest
No, the Carlton mess he inherited is as bad as Fagan's with Brisbane. It is similar to Brisbane's mess its going to be a long process to fix. I don't think changing the coach will fix any of Carlton's on field playing issues.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Most the GWS players?
Griffo
Guest
They are definitely top heavy. 4 ruckman size players in the team Mc Kay, Lobbe/Phillips, Casboult and Jones. This deprives the team of another running player which impacts on their ability to run out a whole game and hence reduces their chances of winning. I have been saying this on social media for several years now. Seemed to me to be a reasonable and constructive criticism but instead I have been hounded, scorned and accused of disloyalty for not following the orthodox club 'rebuilding' line. Consequently, I am losing interest in this club and its lame excuses
Griffo
Guest
Would have to say improvement under Bolton has not been evident and some of that could be down to his match day coaching. He is not an experienced coach. However, recruitment has generally been ok with some not so good selections. Some draft selections have been wasted eg most of the players picked up from the Giants have not come through. Would have been better to secure rookies. Would give Bolton til end of 2020 then, pending performance, either replace him or impose strict KPIs which if not met result in his replacement.
Blake Standfield
Roar Guru
The fact that Carlton weren't 'gunna win' any of those games is why Bolton should be sacked.
michael RVC
Roar Pro
Yeah, Weitering. If at some point you think he might want to head north, we can help.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
No, not exactly a whole decade. But as the Dylan song goes; “It ain’t dark yet......but it’s gettin’ there”.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Yeah that’s what I thought Matti. Tim was not quite as bad as Walls but nearly .
Macca
Roar Rookie
None of the blues young players have come close to coming out of contract, if there was real concerns we would at least some of these players getting in to the last years of their contract before extending. It could happen, but it could happen at any club
Macca
Roar Rookie
People seem to only remember Charlie's highlights from last year and forget the number of games he had less tha 10 disposals or went goalless. If Sunday is the worst game he plays all year I will be happy.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Stats after 4 rounds are a useless but sacking a coach based on 4 rounds is valid? And give the 6-6-6 rule is redundant within about 30 seconds of the bounce how exactly does it impact all stats?
Macca
Roar Rookie
I think they like Stockers leg further up the ground
User
Roar Rookie
Carlton have always been divisive and as Macca says are a big club, thing about big clubs is they will always get big attention, it's been that way since the beginning of time, bigger a sporting club is the bigger the sales / clicks will be and greater the division between their fans and others. The thing is handling it without blaming others.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
They probably know that they are going to get plenty of comments from Carlton supporters and haters.