SEN footy analyst David King has one simple message for Carlton tomorrow against Gold Coast: win.
The Blues have started the year 0-3 and while King doesn’t feel there’s a certain amount of wins the club needs in 2019, he believes this is one of the matches they just have to win.
“They are absolutely at ground zero, the Gold Coast Suns, so for them to beat Carlton, who by all reports are out of their rebuild phase and now should be coming out the other side, this would be a horrendous loss for Brendon Bolton if they were to get rolled,” King told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“I’m just looking at the teams that are selected, young teams don’t win. The Gold Coast Suns are the most inexperienced team going into this round.
“Carlton are significantly more experienced which to me says you should be winning, whether you’re travelling or not.
“They’ve just got to go there as a mature bunch, the excuses for me aren’t there for this one. They may have been there last week against Sydney who are a better team in a different stage, but not tomorrow.”
King feels the pressure will mount on Bolton very quickly if they are to drop this one.
“This is a game they have to tick off tomorrow. They need to continue to show us the improvements and there have been some in the way they play, but for me it’s about working out whether Bolton is the man,” he said.
“I think they’ve won nine of their last 57 games. You just don’t survive on those numbers.
“Nine wins over 57 is roughly 16 per cent win-loss ratio. That’s exactly the percentage that Mark Neeld was sacked from Melbourne.”
Carlton has won their previous two clashes with the Suns at Metricon Stadium and have forward Charlie Curnow has returned from a knee injury suffered in Round 2.