AN "ABSOLUTELY filthy" Brendon Bolton delivered a three-quarter time rocket after watching Carlton almost certainly cough up the club's last chance to avoid its first wooden spoon under his three-year tenure against Fremantle.
The plucky visitors held a 13-point lead at the main change at Optus Stadium on Sunday, but then capitulated in the 'premiership quarter' as the Dockers piled on seven unanswered majors.
Freo's blitzkrieg ended Carlton's hopes of snatching only its third victory this season, and with two rounds remaining the Blues would need to win both games to have any chance of climbing from the bottom of the ladder.
BLUES FALL SHORT Full match coverage and stats
Bolton didn't hold back in his post-match media conference, furious with the Blues for not concentrating when it counted, especially around stoppages.
"I'm absolutely filthy, as are our players, with the third quarter," Bolton said.
"Seven goals is unacceptable in a quarter. (I'm) pleased with the character to dig in in the last – I think we won the inside 50s (15-9) in the last (although) we didn't totally capitalise every time – but three quarters doesn't cut it.
"Our players' consistency needs to grow, and that's what they're learning.
"They and I challenged really heavily at three-quarter time.
"It needed to be (an) emotive (address), because we needed to jar the group back into what it did in the first two quarters and then in the last I though they responded alright but we didn't totally capitalise.
"Lots of little things (went wrong in the third quarter). Stoppage compliance and setup, we just didn't position ourselves where we needed to at defensive 50 stoppages and a couple of between arc stoppages.
"That probably got away from us a little bit. It's only a metre off here or there and that just hurts."
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However, Bolton, who was also frustrated that Lachie Neale got off the chain for the Dockers in the third term, could see positives in the Blues winning contested ball (+14) and clearances (41-35).
"Any team away, particularly over here, is difficult. There was lots of things we liked in three quarters," he said.
"Contested possession was well in our favour, so we're hard enough and we're having a crack enough. We tackled pretty well (59-56).
"There's a lot of what you call effort indicators that are strong, but we just need to mature as a group in terms of being able to nail what we want to nail for longer periods."
WATCH Brendon Bolton's full post-match media conference
The Blues, who remain rooted to the bottom of the ladder with two wins, face the in-form Western Bulldogs next round before hosting Adelaide at Etihad Stadium in the final round.
Without a miraculous turnaround, they will finish last for the fifth time since 'winning' their first wooden spoon in 2002.
"We don't like where we are. The ladder doesn't lie, we've got an incredibly (large) amount of hard work to do," Bolton said.
"We feel that when we get all our guys through another strong pre-season we're only going to grow and move forward.
"We can't change what's happened. All we can change is the next two games. Aim for two more wins."
