Carlton’s trade period has turned into a nightmare, missing out on both Jack Martin and Tom Papley.
Both deals fell through late as the clock ticked down, leaving them with Marc Pittonet and Eddie Betts, but not their main two targets.
Carlton head of list management Stephen Silvagni explained the situation.
“We felt we put a reasonable offer to the Gold Coast which was not accepted,” Silvagni said.
“Obviously Jack (Martin) is an uncontracted player so we still have an avenue to either get him in the National Draft or the pre-season draft.
“We’ve got the option to be able to do that, whether he arrives at our club or not, time will tell, but we still feel as though we’re in a strong position.
“He’s told us that he wants to get to our football club.”
As for Tom Papley, the Blues revealed that deal was tied to Sydney’s pursuit of Joe Daniher.
“Tom (Papley) is a contracted player and we always knew it would be difficult to get a deal done,” Silvagni said.
“And I guess the lot relied on the Joe Daniher deal to go through, obviously it’s disappointing for Tom, but obviously respectful to Sydney that he’s a contracted player.
“We were told really from the start that if the Daniher deal didn’t happen it was highly unlikely Tom would get to the football club.”
Carlton hope they can secure Martin in the upcoming National Draft.