Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton has questioned whether Carlton are gifting games to their veterans as the club faces an eighth straight year without a finals appearance.
It comes ahead of Sunday's must-win clash against arch-rivals Essendon at the MCG.
Speaking on SEN radio, Brereton said the club had been "very kind" to veterans Marc Murphy, Levi Casboult and Eddie Betts at the selection table.
โThey (Carlton) are not quite getting the job done. I thought they might show us a little bit more improvement,โ Brereton said on SENโs Bob and Andy.
โIโve been in their corner for quite some time, even two years ago, and thinking, โI donโt mind their build โฆ theyโve taken some pain to make this buildโ.
โIโm just a little critical that they seem to drop the same young blokes each time and as I said on Saturday morning, theyโve been very kind to some of their players.
โLevi (Casboult) and (Marc) Murphy and Eddie (Betts), theyโre all fantastic young men, theyโre all fantastic servants of the club.
โYou earn your games and if you walk away with 294 games, if you walk away with 199 (games), you can look yourself in the eye and say, โI earnt every one of those. I was gifted nothingโ.
โSomeone like Marc Murphy has lost pace. What you want from your half-forward flankers, he canโt give that anymore. Heโs got to be on the inside.โ
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The trio, who have played over a combined 600 games for Carlton, all remain without a contract beyond 2021.
The 13th placed Blues have registered just two wins from the opening six rounds of the season with a challenging month ahead in which they face both the currently undefeated Bulldogs and Dees.
Carlton will be hoping the signing of John Worsfold will help turn around their underwhelming start to the season.
The club announced last week that the former West Coast and Essendon coach will be joining the team as a coaching consultant.
