It’s not the end of the world if Carlton falls out of the top eight from here, according to David King.
The Blues need to win one more game to make it, with the Bulldogs likely to overtake them on percentage if they don’t.
Losses to Adelaide and Brisbane on the road have left them still needing that 13th win, with Melbourne and Collingwood to come.
With an injury list in double digits all season and the pending suspension of Patrick Cripps, that final victory feels unlikely.
However, King believes Carlton has laid out their game style, proven they have the tools and shouldn’t be too dismayed if they miss out.
“We were there at the start of the season for their practice game at IKON Park to work out who they are. They were going flat out at every training session, flat out at every pre-season game. It’s a long year,” King told SEN Breakfast.
“They’ve shown this season that in 2023 and 2024 they’re going to be a force. They’ve set standards.
“They aren’t as physically imposing as they were in the first eight weeks of the season, they aren’t as brutal in the contest and clearance, their top players maybe aren’t in ripping form, they’ve hit the wall a little bit for me.
“Which is probably expected. I probably expected this with Collingwood, Hawthorn, the first-time coaches coming in have got to set standards and get rolling so early in pre-season and there’s no tapering.
“It hasn’t happened at Collingwood, but it has happened at Carlton. There’s no shame in that.
“If Cripps gets a few weeks and they go in without three or four of their midfield set, they’ll get what they get, but there’s so many positives out of Carlton this year.
“It doesn’t really matter if you finish seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th. It doesn’t change where you’re going next year.
“I just think the positives far outweigh the negatives.
“I’d love to do a study on teams that have finished seventh and eighth the last few years and how it’s impacted the following two to three seasons. Has it actually helped them or is it a false economy?
“They go so hard in the last three weeks to limp into eighth and more often than not they’re out week one and all the talk and all the excitement, it just becomes a nonsense.
“In terms of the way they play, I think there’s been enormous gains this year. Michael Voss has done a great job.
“They’ve run out of personnel. Injuries have got them.”
On top of likely losing Cripps for the final two games, the Blues will likely be without Matt Kennedy (broken jaw) and George Hewett (back) from their starting midfield group.
The Blues will seemingly have at least 14 players unavailable for Saturday night’s clash with Melbourne.