CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton doesn't have the answer for why so many of his players were so horribly "off" on Sunday, but he remains steadfast about the progress they have made.

The Blues appeared to have turned the corner when they impressively dispatched the Western Bulldogs a fortnight ago – after running several teams close – before going six goals up against Hawthorn.

History now shows the Hawks ran over the top of Carlton.

The Blues followed that up by giving up 10 of the first 11 goals on their way to a 58-point hiding from fellow cellar-dweller North Melbourne.

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For all the Blues' competitiveness at different stages, they have now lost to bottom side Sydney, a Kangaroos side that previously had a 1-5 record and a Gold Coast team most didn't rate on season eve.

Now awaiting them in the next month are Collingwood, Greater Western Sydney, St Kilda and Essendon.

Bolton defended the performance on the basis that there had been progress but reiterated several times that it wasn't the time to discuss what that progress was.

"Don't blur one game with what a season is, because there's lots of signs of progress and it's a question I'm a bit reluctant to answer – what all the progress is after a loss," Bolton said post-game.

"But if you dig deep, there's been a lot of progress this year. Again, we're not blurring that with that we're satisfied we have only one win.

"For me to talk about some of the progress that's hidden underneath the win-loss, the timing's not right now."

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Bolton said the players and coaches asked "hard questions of each other" after watching the team commit elementary errors and be obliterated in the contest.

Perhaps most damning of all was that Carlton won 128 fewer possessions, yet the clubs finished on the same number of tackles.

"We talked about the contested numbers, particularly the first quarter," he said.

"They weren't at the level we wanted early … and this game requires you to be mentally prepared and you only have to be one per cent off in that preparation at this level and it can really hurt.

"What percentage we were off, it's hard to put a figure on it, but we were off and they got us early."

Bolton was also full of praise for North's effort, saying it was equally as big a factor in the final result as the Blues' porous display.

WATCH Brendon Bolton's full post-match press conference

Carlton lost Kade Simpson, Matthew Kreuzer, Mitch McGovern and Nic Newman to injury from the Hawthorn defeat, but the coach was hopeful of regaining Kreuzer and McGovern to face the Pies.

"(Kreuzer) makes a hell of a difference to us, so he's in the mix, then it's what mix we put in there," he said.

"If we bring him back with (Andrew) Phillips, Levi (Casboult) and 'Kreuze', what does that look like? We're yet to determine that, but we know he's like a ruck-rover.

"McGovern should be available next week and I'd have to look at how the twos went – I'm not even sure – so there'd be guys to consider."

Defender Liam Jones went to hospital after a sickening head clash in the third quarter, but Bolton was confident both Tom Williamson and Dale Thomas were okay.