Carlton coach David Teague questioned his side’s mentality after Saturday’s 19-point loss to the Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium.
On a high after convincingly beating St Kilda to revive their finals hopes, the Blues were overrun by the Suns in the second half, summing up their inconsistent campaign.
Carlton is now almost certain to miss the finals for an eighth consecutive year as pressure mounts on Teague amid the club's external review.
“Maybe we were thinking about the outcome rather than the process and sticking to that and being able to execute in the moment,” Teague said post-game.
“Probably a week ago the players may have thought that finals were out of contention and now it was on their mind, maybe they’ve been thinking about it too much.
“If that was the case, each individual will have to look at that closely.
“It’s something they haven’t had for a long time at this football club in terms of playing finals. It’s been a while.
“In the past, our ability to go and execute with that expectation there is something we need to improve on. We need to get really present and go out and be our absolute best.”
SEN host and avid Blues fan Andy Maher was left “staggered” by Teague’s reasons for Carlton’s poor performance against the Suns.
“That should have been reason for an invigorated performance, not recoil and be beaten around the footy as conclusively as they were in just the basic contest stuff,” Maher told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“That should have been invigorating for Carlton. That should have given the whole joint an adrenaline rush that they haven’t had for a long time.
“Somehow, we’re still in this. Let’s go out and make a statement this week against Gold Coast.
“David Teague can come up with his own reasoning for it, but if it was because they’ve spent too much time thinking about the finals and they got ahead of themselves, there is no one at Carlton who has got any right – and I mean from the president down – to be getting ahead of themselves for any particular reason.
“David’s entitled to say whatever he wants, but I was staggered by that when I heard it to be honest.”
The Blues take on fourth-placed Port Adelaide in Marc Murphy's 300th game this weekend.