THE PROSPECT of both Mick Malthouse and Travis Cloke being at Carlton next year is growing stronger by the minute.

Access All Areas panellists Luke Darcy and Damian Barrett said on AFL.com.au on Monday that deals were already being formulated.

Barrett said Blues coach Brett Ratten was virtually no chance of retaining his job next year, with the tipping point being the stunning 12-point loss to an undermanned Gold Coast on Saturday that ensured the club would miss the finals.

And Darcy said out-of-contract Cloke was most likely to join Carlton on a $5 million, five-year deal.

"Carlton coaches don't survive embarrassments like this, they just do not," Barrett said.

Barrett, who is close to the Malthouse camp, said the former Collingwood coach would certainly consider an offer from Carlton under the right circumstances, once Ratten had been removed.

He said Malthouse would demand $1-1.2 million dollars a year, bring his own coaching staff to the club and require input into high-performance management.

Barrett said the exercise would cost Carlton "multi millions of dollars", factoring in a payout of Ratten's estimated $550,000 contract on top of Malthouse's lucrative deal.

Collingwood called off contract talks with Cloke in July, saying it was in the best interests of the club and player to put discussions on hold until the end of the season.

Malthouse said last week he believed Cloke was only 50-50 to stay at Collingwood, and on Monday Darcy said, "My understanding is the most likely option is that Travis Cloke will leave and go to Carlton."

Cloke has been in demand from a number of clubs, including Fremantle, Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney, and as a restricted free agent it would be his decision alone to leave the Pies.

However, fitting a million-dollar per year deal into Carlton's salary cap in addition to Chris Judd's contract, which is around about the same mark, would require some juggling.

Malthouse dramatically raised the pressure on Ratten when he said on Melbourne radio on Monday that if he did not coach next season, he would never coach again.

Carlton released a statement which said no talks and no decision on Ratten's future would be made until after next Sunday's clash with St Kilda.

Ben Guthrie is a reporter for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter- @AFL_BenGuthrie