CARLTON suffered its fifth-straight loss this year against West Coast on Saturday but coach Brendon Bolton remains resolute in believing his side will eventually "explode".
The Blues have been the subject of fierce external criticism as the leakiest team in the competition heading into round five, and suffering through their worst start to a season since 1989, but Bolton called on the outside world to consider what could be.
"I can't wait. We had, I think it was four or five over 100 games (experience), and the rest under that. The Eagles were the contrast," Bolton said.
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"You've just got to sit there sometimes – and development coaches are great at this – they just shut their eyes and go '50, 100 games, what's it going to look like?'.
"When you're seeing what (Paddy) Dow's doing now – he's five games in. (Lochie) O'Brien's two games in. You've just got to look to that and understand it, and look at all the good teams that have had sustained success.
"They were together for a long time and then it just exploded."
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Kade Simpson, Dale Thomas, Matthew Wright and Ed Curnow all fit into that experienced category, while Liam Jones lined up in his 100th match.
Despite the club's dismal start to the year, Bolton was adamant his players remained close and committed to the cause, pointing to his side's brave performance in its 10-point loss as evidence.
"It's also got to be a place where they feel they have absolute clarity on how to grow and improve. When you've got that, you've got what you call a learning environment, and our players have no issue in turning up and having high morale," Bolton said.
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"It also helps when (Sam) Docherty, (Marc) Murphy, (Matthew) Kreuzer, all those guys that aren't playing, are invested and helping their mates.
"They're pretty tight-knit, this group. They've had a lot of adversity and now they're really young and have some injuries, but they're really tight-knit. They want to improve. They really want to improve.
"Carlton's a good place. Carlton's a good place. We know what we're doing."
Bolton is under no illusion about the situation his side faces. Into his third season in charge, the Blues appear at their lowest point after having turned over 42 players since he took charge, while a mounting injury list has depleted the talent available.
The top-four from last year's best and fairest were all absent against West Coast: Murphy (left foot), Docherty (left knee), Kreuzer (groin) and Bryce Gibbs (Adelaide).
Bolton knows he needs to accept the impact of the missing stars.
"My persona's really important, that I appreciate with their experience and the amount of injuries, that mistakes will happen," Bolton said.
"It doesn't mean that I say it's all okay to make mistakes, but I've got to have an appreciation that they will happen. The game's not perfect."
Don't have any doubts though – the Blues are hell-bent on improving.
"We're not satisfied by any stretch," Bolton said.
"There were some goals we didn't like that we gave up, but there were some steps forward.
"We can also cast our mind into the future there and see what we're talking about through that game."
