If Carlton makes the decision to part ways with coach David Teague, it will be because of his coaching staff’s failure to implement a sustainable and effective defensive system, according to Tim Watson.
The Blues, who would have been two points outside the top eight with a win, were belted in the second half by the 18th placed North Melbourne on Saturday afternoon, eventually going down by 39 points.
The Roos kicked seven unanswered goals and sliced Carlton apart through the middle of the ground as the club conceded its eighth 100-plus point score for the season (the most in the comp).
Watson said Teague’s failure to correct the defensive issues across the season will potentially be the factor that costs him his job.
“They are not a system-based team and they played against a team that has implemented in a short space of time a far more sustainable, fundamental and basic system that will underpin them when they play and they’ll only get better at that, North Melbourne,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“If Carlton decide that they don’t want to go with David Teague at the end of the year, it’ll be because in the time he has been there as coach, it’s not just about the defence, it’s the actual system and your defensive attacking systems lock in together, they’re one in the same thing. They’ve got to be synchronised.
“They haven’t been able to do that. He hasn’t been able to implement that in the time that he’s been there and that’s the reason why they are more a talent-based team than they are a system-based team.”
SEN Breakfast co-host Garry Lyon simply retorted: “They can’t be a talent-based team because they haven’t got that much.”
Watson feels the Blues will now part ways with Teague, following the external review into the football department.
“I don’t think he will be coaching next year,” he said.
“He has remained upbeat throughout this as he has to be as the leader of an organisation and everybody draws their energy from him as a result of that, but you look at the other teams and most teams have a system to the way they play and everyone’s different in their strengths and weaknesses … I don’t think they’ve ever been able to implement a type of play, a standard of play.”
Lyon looked back to comments made by Teague when the Blues played the Western Bulldogs earlier in the year.
The senior coach stated Carlton would attempt to win a shootout with the Dogs – which they almost did before conceding a five-goal lead in the second half.
“I take it back to the time they played the Western Bulldogs and I know it’s unfair to continue to raise this, but this gives you an insight into the mentality,” he said.
“He said we’re all out attack. We’re going out to kick goals and it was put to him that the Bulldogs can kick a few as well and he said ‘we’ll have to kick more’.
“And they were five goals up against the Dogs and looking great and then the Dogs got their act together, started to score and there was no way of stopping them.
“How can they stop them when the coach says ‘we’ll just kick more goals than them’?
“I’m sure they’ve made some changes, but not enough and they’ve got some issues.
“They don’t need to make their decision now. They need to look at the next four weeks as well.”
Carlton takes on St Kilda this weekend at Marvel Stadium.