Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton has accused Carlton of being “impatient” with their rebuild by overpaying for recruits Adam Saad, Zac Williams and Jack Martin.
Saad and Williams landed at Ikon Park in last year’s trade period, while Martin joined the Blues via the 2019 AFL pre-season draft.
The heavy investment on the trio is yet to pay dividends with Carlton set to miss the finals for an eighth straight season.
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“One thing I have to say about Carlton … they’re the most impatient group, club, committee, team, selectors, supporters. They’re so impatient,” Brereton told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“I know they’ve been out of it for quite some time, but they decided to go for the great strip back and do it all again the right way.
“Somewhere along the line in the last two years, they got remarkably impatient. Somewhere you decided that you’re going to pay $2.5 million a year to three flankers – (Adam) Saad, (Jack) Martin and (Zac) Williams.
“They’re flankers. They can be very good players … but you’re paying them money you pay to champion key forwards and key backs. Something is out of whack there.
“Because of the impatience, to me looking in from the outside it says, ‘We’ve got to get better quicker than we’re expecting these kids to come on … we’ve got to get the best talent available’.
“The talent named their price and Carlton paid it. At some stage there has to be a reckoning with that price. I can’t understand why you would do it.
“Admittedly, they got Zac Williams thinking he was going to be 75 per cent midfield and 25 per cent flanker. Jack Martin, essentially, he’s a flanker.”
Carlton will conduct a mid-season football department review with the club sitting 14th on the ladder with a 4-8 win-loss record.