Following Carlton's successful trade period - acquiring Zac Williams, Adam Saad and Lachlan Fogarty - former AFL great David King sees potential for a big year down at Prices Park.
Adding to an already strong young nucleus, King believes improvement from David Teague's team will be rapid.
King told SEN Breakfast that he believes Carlton could 'take a giant stride' in 2021.
“I really like what Carlton has done. Lachie Fogarty is another one who’s probably going to fly under the radar because he’s not the big boom name of the other two, but they’re building, they really are building,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“They’re adding to the edges. They’ve got a great spine. Carlton’s not going to gradually bring their way up the ladder, they’re just going to go bang.
“They’re going to take a giant stride. I’m excited by Carlton.”
King believes that all hope isn't lost for the future of Carlton if they were to miss out on a finals spot next season, saying that they are "well beyond the green shoots discussion".
“I don’t get caught up in whether you’re playing finals or not because I think if you finish 10th as opposed to finishing 7th, is that a radical difference in the chase to the premiership, probably not," King said.
“It’s all about gearing to win a flag. If you’re gearing to make finals, you’ll be stuck in that mid-table section for a decade.
“Carlton won seven games last year and the Magpies won 9.5 to sneak into the top eight. Do those guys make two wins difference? You probably think they do.”