Matthew Lloyd says Carlton’s injury-hit forward line was one of the worst he’s seen, slamming the club for a “lack of care” in their loss to North Melbourne on the weekend.
David Teague’s side went down to North Melbourne by 39 points on Saturday afternoon, heaping more pressure onto the under-fire coach as the club’s review continues.
Lloyd said the Blues had to “defend for their lives” to keep pace with North Melbourne and wondered whether another coach like Don Pyke would be able to improve the side across the board.
“They had no (Mitch) McGovern, (Charlie) Curnow, (Harry) McKay or (Levi) Casboult so it’s probably one of the worst forward lines put out there,” he said on Sportsday.
“They had no tall target to kick to, Patrick Cripps started out of the goal square and Matthew Kennedy would swap occasionally as well.
“They had to defend for their lives and that’s the only way they get repeat (forward) entries (against North Melbourne), the first quarter was OK…but after that it was damning.
“There was a lack of care to defend and a lack of system. I would say to myself whether someone like Don Pyke would make players like Liam Stocker, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Paddy Dow better.”
Carlton will play St Kilda in the opening game of Round 20, with the clash shifted to the Friday night spotlight as a result of COVID-related fixture changes announced by the AFL on Monday night.