CARLTON'S young midfield group will use Sunday's brutal 105-point loss to Greater Western Sydney as a means of measuring its future development, coach Brendon Bolton says.

The Giants were able to completely overrun the Blues out of the centre at Etihad Stadium, comfortably winning the clearance and contested battle in a devastating display.

Josh Kelly (41 disposals, 10 clearances), Stephen Coniglio (36 disposals, eight clearances) and Callan Ward (34 disposals, nine clearances) were dominant in the victory, with Carlton unable to find midfield support for young star Patrick Cripps on a forgettable afternoon.

Bolton stopped short of comparing GWS to its fellow premiership contenders on the basis of its performance on Sunday, but described its midfield-running as the best he's seen in 2018.

THE COACH ON THE LOSS Bolton's full media conference

He said Carlton's group of promising on-ballers, such as Paddy Dow, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Matt Kennedy, could learn from the work rate of the opponents they faced on Sunday.

"We just played a serious contender," Bolton said.

"It's a fantastic template for our midfielders, to understand the running power required. That's the hardest-running midfield we've witnessed this year.

"They spread really strongly off our younger midfielders and they outnumbered in their forward line with that run, so that's the level our guys need to aspire to run at."

Cripps battled manfully on Sunday, finishing with 29 disposals, six clearances and nine tackles, but was overwhelmed by the depth of GWS' numbers through the midfield.

While Cripps' duel with Giants co-captain Ward was one of the highlights of the afternoon, Bolton suggested his side's loss said more about the collective than any individual contest.

"You've got to look at the midfield battle, they won that clearly," Bolton said.

"I'm not here to individualise it, because it needs to be about Cripps and our younger midfielders working together. They got the chocolates."

Bolton said building depth through the club's midfield was "undoubtedly" what the Blues need to strengthen over the off-season but said it didn't excuse their performance.

"They understand they're on a journey and they understand their age profile, but they don't want that held as an excuse at all," Bolton said.