There is a “magnificent opportunity” in front of Carlton following Thursday night’s win over reigning premier Geelong.
That is the opinion of David King who believes the Blues now have a great chance of breaking their finals drought.
Michael Voss’ side owns a 1-1-0 record on the back of their season-opening draw with Richmond and eight-point victory against the Cats which puts them in a strong position, especially given their draw.
The Blues meet GWS (Giants Stadium), North Melbourne (Marvel Stadium), Adelaide (Adelaide Oval), St Kilda (Marvel Stadium) and West Coast (Optus Stadium) in the next five weeks which presents perfectly for them to set up their campaign.
“I think there’s a real opportunity here,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“I know last year they started 3-0 beating Richmond, the Dogs and the Hawks.
“But in years gone by they’ve been 0-2, 0-2, 0-4, 0-7, 0-2, so these are two building years. I know they’re thereabouts with the experience on their list, there’s a couple of youngsters in there, but in the main they’re pretty well stacked.
“They’ve got the Giants next week at Giants Stadium. They’ll go into that game as heavy favourites.
“They’ve got the Kangaroos on Good Friday. They’ll win that.
“They take on the Adelaide Crows at the Adelaide Oval. They’ll go into that game as favourites.
“Then they play St Kilda at Marvel. That is a magnificent opportunity to stack some wins, gets some played back into the lineup, returning stars like (George) Hewett and (Sam) Walsh.
“Then you really set yourself for that grind of the middle part of the year.
“I think it’s a real opportunity to embed into the group a real belief that it doesn’t matter who they play over the next 6-8 weeks, they can do the job.”
Kane Cornes concurs, saying the opportunity is there for Carlton to bank some points and give themselves a foundation to build towards finals footy.
“Then it’s the Eagles in Perth in Round 7,” he added.
“So the opportunity that you’ve highlighted is there for them to get a real launching pad into the season and set themselves in a position where you don’t miss finals from.”
The Blues will be chasing their second win of the season when they meet GWS in western Sydney next Saturday.
FORMER BLUE CERTAIN CARLTON PLAYS FINALS AFTER CRUCIAL GEELONG WIN