David King has urged Carlton to take utilise their top draft pick this year and not take it to the trade table.
The Blues last year gave up pick eight for defender Adam Saad, but the team has gone backwards in 2021.
Carlton currently holds pick five given their ladder position and they have been strongly linked to out of contract Fremantle midfielder Adam Cerra.
King feels Cerra will cost a Victorian team a lot in a trade and believes the Blues should opt out and head to the draft.
“It’ll cost you more than one first-round pick for Adam Cerra,” King told SEN’s Drive.
“I don’t think they’re there. To me, that’s a cream on the cake move and Carlton hasn’t got a cake yet.
“They started to build a cake and then went away from it.
“I know they’ve had some injuries and if you write down Carlton’s best 22 it looks really good, but how often do you get to do that really?
“It will be interesting to see what Carlton does at the end of the year.
“Why would Cerra choose Carlton? He’s going to have his choice of clubs isn’t he?
“I think he’s a top-liner. I think he’s going to be a star.
“If I was Carlton I would just go back to the draft and challenge the guys to get the picks right.”
Carlton great Robert Walls on Tuesday night called out the Blues for their recent list management calls, bringing in Saad, Zac Williams, Jack Martin and Mitch McGovern.
McGovern has been plagued with injury issues and has not delivered on his price tag while Martin has also had injury problems this year after a strong 2020.
King however has no issues with Carlton’s decision to go after Martin and Williams specifically, given they did not cost the club draft capital.
“I would’ve just kept hitting the draft and if you have a bit of luck outside of that with acquiring free agents then great, but don’t mess with your draft picks,” he said.
“I’m still a believer in Carlton’s list as much as everyone’s going hard at them. The coaching and list management decisions have been questionable.
“The only real currency in the AFL is National Draft picks. If you can acquire Zac Williams free of charge and just pay the finance, I think you can juggle the books. I’m not as down on that.
“If you can get Jack Martin through the door as a pre-season pick, fantastic. Good recruiting.
“But to give up pick eight for Adam Saad, that’s the one that hurts you. I don’t know the order Essendon would’ve taken their three picks, would Zach Reid have slipped through? Who knows, but you challenge them to work out two of the three and that extra player going to Carlton would be a boon.
“I think the error you can make is getting ahead of yourself and trading first-round draft picks when you’re not absolutely there. You’ve got to be putting icing on the cake when you trade first-round picks.”
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