CARLTON president Stephen Kernahan has turned the blowtorch onto the club's players, challenging them to stand up in the wake of the Blues' worst start to a season in 25 years.
Nearly everyone and everything at Carlton has come under criticism in the past two weeks as the Blues have slumped to an 0-4 record, with an 81-point capitulation to Essendon in round three followed by a huge upset loss to a downtrodden Melbourne on Saturday.
Blues powerbroker Bruce Mathieson has called for Kernahan and chief executive Greg Swann to resign, while coach Mick Malthouse's position and the club's recruiting have been widely questioned by commentators.
Kernahan defended the Blues on Monday against accusations they have overrated their list, noting they had played in four of the past five finals series.
However, the Blues turned over 10 players at the end of last season and Kernahan said they were likely to oversee a similar exodus at the end of 2014.
The president insisted Malthouse remained "the best bloke" to oversee this list overhaul. He also said recruiting manager Shane Rogers and football manager Andrew McKay, who both took on their roles two years ago, deserved the chance to play their part in that rebuild too.
"There are 18 games left and I look forward to seeing who wants to stand up for our club," Kernahan said at Visy Park.
"I want to see which of our players stand up and make a play for the club.
"We changed our recruiting staff two years ago. Shane Rogers had the last two goes at it (at the draft) and I reckon we've done reasonably well.
"But you don't know about those kids for the next couple of years.
"A new general manager of footy ops in Andrew McKay came in at the same time two years ago. We should give them the chance to develop our list."
Kernahan said the Blues' dismal start to the season suggested their leadership group was not doing enough to support struggling skipper Marc Murphy.
Murphy was soundly beaten by Melbourne co-captain Nathan Jones on Saturday and he has struggled to have an impact under hard tags in the first four rounds.
In his All Australian year, 2011, Murphy averaged 29 possessions a game, but this year he is only averaging 22.5 touches.
Last year, Murphy's output was also down (22 possessions a game), but the skipper went into 2013 off an interrupted pre-season.
"Murph is a young lad, he has played 160 games, he is 26 years of age," Kernahan said.
"You can't lump it on one person, it's never been about one bloke … it's about everyone buying into what we've got going on.
"Our leadership group, they know they need to lift in a few areas … (the players are) bereft of confidence and that's how they're playing.
"That can turn around and I'm sure it will, but at the moment it looks pretty tough for our members and supporters.
"We'll have to wear this and this Sunday we get another crack against the Bulldogs and let's hope we can do something."
Kernahan, who reiterated he would stand down as president after the club's 150-year celebrations in June, acknowledged Mathieson's right to criticise the club.
But he was "slightly disappointed" because the Blues' benefactor had been aware for 18 months that the club had a presidential succession plan in place.
"I haven't (spoken to him), but one of my board members has," Kernahan said during an interview on Fox Footy's On The Couch program on Monday night.
"I've got no problem with Bruce having an opinion. He's an integral part of the football club. We made him a life member a year ago, which I was a part of.
"I understand that Bruce's philosophy is to throw the bomb in and nuke everybody and get everyone out. I've got no problem with that.
"But what it is is a bit counter-productive with what we're trying to do down there."
As for Swann's performance and future, Kernahan said: "When Swanny got there in 2007 we were an $18 to $19 million club, we're now a $58 to $60 million club.
"We've got a $20 million facility, our corporate sponsorship is through the roof. I think Greg Swann's been outstanding.
"We've got a rolling contract with Swanny each year … so at the end of the year our club will make the call on that."
Kernahan also responded to innuendo that he walked out of a board meeting after hearing Malthouse talk down the club's list following round one.
"I'll tell you one thing, I've never walked out of a board meeting in my life," he said.
"Mick is always honest with what he says there, and I've never overrated our list, ever.
"They're private those meetings, but we know exactly where our list is. If people are surprised they haven't been watching closely enough."
