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.

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.

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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.

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