DANIEL Harford says his first task as Carlton's new AFLW coach will be to find out just why the Blues plummeted from pre-season flag fancy to cellar-dwellers in the space of five weeks.
The Blues topped up their list this season with key players Nicola Stevens and Tayla Harris after coming close to a Grand Final appearance last year and went on to win their opening two games of 2018.
However, after losing captain Bri Davey to a serious knee injury in round two, they were defeated in the next five to finish on the bottom of the ladder.
Harford, a former Collingwood AFLW assistant who took over from sacked coach Damien Keeping this week, said "getting the fundamentals right" would be a priority for his new team after he investigated how the Blues' 2018 campaign fell apart.
"It was really interesting because in the pre-season the expectation was that Carlton would be a powerhouse in season two and that didn't happen, so we were trying to work out what was going on," Harford said this week.
"They beat us [Collingwood] in round one to kick off the season and we thought they might have something.
"Then it sort of fell away. Bri Davey going down hurt that, you lose a fair bit of leadership and talent, and then something happened and I haven't got to the bottom of that yet, but my job is to make sure it can get back on track and steer it in the right direction from this point onwards."
Harford said the Blues would wait for clarity surrounding the AFL's deadlines for list lodgments and player acquisition opportunities before they made any moves this off-season.
