Where to from here for Carlton?

It’s still only March, but Carlton’s off-season decision making already feels like it has amounted to nothing – as far as the 2025 season is concerned.

Coming off a 2024 where they spent the vast majority inside the top four before injuries contributed to a late-season collapse, the Blues had to make some tweaks within their limited salary cap to reinvent.

The club made some big decisions across the trade and draft space, while also flipping the magnets positionally with a few key players. Let’s break it all down.

They made the call to cull injury prone types in hopes of gaining more list availability in 2025, moving on from Jack Martin, Jack Carroll, Caleb Marchbank, David Cuningham and Sam Durdin, while trading Matt Owies and Matthew Kennedy for salary cap flexibility.

In theory, it makes sense, but when you cull players 22-28 on the depth chart, you need those beneath to step up.

They would have hoped the likes of Ashton Moir, Jaxon Binns, Cooper Lord and Billy Wilson could step up and fill the void – so far, only Lord has featured at AFL level. On top of that, Nic Newman and Elijah Hollands are out indefinitely and they have gotten nothing out of their spearhead key forwards.

When your depth is questionable and you're playing the likes of Lewis Young, Francis Evans and a Sam Docherty with nothing left to give, you simply have no room for error.

They went chips all-in across the trade and draft periods on acquiring pick three. They moved out their first-round pick, their future first and Owies to land Jagga Smith as their big off-season move.

Unfortunately, the AFL gods simply cannot allow Carlton to have nice things, and Smith is now out for the season with a torn ACL. He is obviously going to be a significant part of this side long-term, but with the spotlight firmly on coach Michael Voss and their ability to contend in 2025, that investment will amount to nothing this year.

As part of that decision, they opted not to pursue Dan Houston, who admitted to News Corp that he originally wished to join Carlton, and coach Voss wanted him at the club.

The 27-year-old dual All-Australian feels like he would have been the perfect addition to a Carlton team that – to put it frankly – can’t hit targets and can’t transition the footy off half back.

To rub salt in the wounds, Houston is now at Collingwood and flying.

Would this Carlton side be contending with Houston in 2025? Probably not. The issues are wider than what one elite player can fix. Maybe they made the right call not cashing in the draft capital and instead investing in a gun 18-year-old.

But that long-term thinking it’s not what Carlton fans would want to hear as they enter year 10 post the last decision to blow the club up and rebuild.

Nick Haynes was their only free agency or trade period addition – he has looked well below AFL standard as a key defender across the first two games. Likely explaining why he hasn’t been a consistent feature in GWS’ side these last few seasons.

Moving Brodie Kemp forward has resulted in two goals in two games, some decent forward pressure and… that’s about it. It’s not a failure, but it hasn’t moved the needle.

After three quarters in his new role in defence, Jack Silvagni has had to play forward for personnel reasons. He is clearly a better forward than he is a defender. But do the Blues abandon a full summer of training this quickly?

Ollie Hollands at half back has been serviceable. He shut down Dylan Moore on Thursday night, but didn’t find a heap of the footy himself. On top of that, it’s left Carlton scrambling to find a second wingman and Lucas Camporeale has been thrown in before he is ready. Both positions feel weaker than 2024.

Michael Voss also changed something up personally, coaching from the box rather than the boundary... but that lasted about 2.5 quarters, with Voss returning to the boundary for the final quarter against Richmond and the entire Hawks match.

So, who asked him to coach from the box? What was the reasoning behind it? And why did Voss ditch it so quickly? If you heard his comments at half time of the Richmond game on the host broadcaster, you’d know he was clearly not a fan of the idea – so whose call was it?

Who decided Charlie Curnow was ready to suit up last night?

Regardless, it all epitomises a summer where Carlton tweaked positionally rather than update a game-plan that feels archaic. As teams move to ball movement and transition, the Blues are still preaching contest and stoppage.

It epitomises a summer where decisions were made that have not bore fruit (yet). And a good effort in Round 2 does not make up for a Round 1 humiliation.

The Blues are 0-2 with bogey sides in the Bulldogs and Collingwood to come. And straws are piling up on the camel’s back.

What decisions do they make next?