SAM ROWE says the time for talk is over at Carlton, insisting the club's words must be backed up with actions this week in the Blues' clash with the Brisbane Lions.

Carlton has endured a demoralising start to the season, with its only win of the first five rounds coming against St Kilda in New Zealand.

Last week's 75-point loss to Collingwood was the Blues' heaviest of the year.

While many Carlton players have backed coach Mick Malthouse as his future at the club beyond this season comes into question, their performance in his record-breaking 715th game as a coach lacked spirit and intensity.

Rowe said it was time for the Blues to follow through, starting with Sunday's meeting with the last-placed Lions at Etihad Stadium.

"There's always a lot of words that get said, and we are 100 per cent behind Mick, absolutely," Rowe said on Wednesday.

"But until you put those actions on the field, it's hard to believe them, and we haven't been playing good football.

"The only way we can turn it around is to actually play good football rather than just saying things all the time. Winning games is what we've got to do."

A member of Carlton's leadership group, Rowe said the lessons arising from last week's loss to the Magpies were not restricted to the senior players in the squad.

"Obviously Friday night was pretty disappointing for the whole club. As a leadership group we addressed it with the rest of the club, so it's not just a leadership group issue, it's for the whole club. We're looking to strongly address that this weekend," he said.

Levi Casboult could be in line for a return to the senior team to face the winless Lions, possibly as a replacement for the injured Lachie Henderson, who strained his hamstring last week.

Casboult and fellow Blues forward Liam Jones have struggled to make an impact this season, but Rowe said the team's problems were more widespread than the attacking pair.

"Levi and Liam probably copped a bit of flak from the media in regards to their goalkicking, but that's something they're working on," Rowe said.

"Everyone's got areas of their game they're working on, but as a team we need to improve on a raft of different things. It's not Levi's goalkicking that's losing us games, it's probably a lot of other things that are all contributing."