Will they improve? Will they regress? The big questions facing Carlton in 2025

SEN Breakfast hosts Kane Cornes and Sam Edmund have run their eyes over Carlton and how the Blues are shaping up for the 2025 campaign.

With the trade and free agency period now complete, Cornes and Edmund discussed how the club may improve in 2025, how they may regress if things go wrong and the big questions facing the Blues next season.

The Blues finished 8th in 2024 with 13 wins and 10 losses before going down to eventual premiers the Brisbane Lions in the Elimination Final.

How can they improve?

“Fitness,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.

“And I don't necessarily think it’s just about a new fitness boss, I think a lot of Carlton issues date back to old injuries that they’ve had, and the biggest indicator you're going to get injured is that you’ve had old injuries.

“The new fitness boss (Rob Inness) coming in is a good story, but I don’t think he's going to be the difference and there’s still going to be some challenges with that.

“Their best five players are the best five players of any team in the league, but are they too reliant on those players.

“How do you get improvement from the Hollands brothers? Can Sam Walsh recapture his best? And the number three pick in the draft — who is that, can you get 20 games out of that 18-year-old, and how impactful can that player be?

“There’s so many questions around the Blues. They could finish top four, they can win it, or they can finish 13th, that’s the range of where the Blues can finish.”

How might they regress?

“For me, they get worse if Jacob Weitering goes down because the world will cave in,” Edmund said.

“They don’t have a second key back, it’s not Mitch McGovern, it won’t be Nick Haynes, they’ve tried Lewis Young, Caleb Marchbank, Oscar McDonald, none have worked for various reasons

“Their is a reliance on Weitering that is the equivalent to a high wire act without a harness, and if they slip off that high wire then that’s where they’re getting worse.”

The other 2025 burning questions

“The big question is who is the kid they have prioritised over Dan Houston, effectively,” Edmund said.

“Who are they taking at Pick 3, they’ve done really well to get Pick 3 in a midfield-heavy draft. They’d be hoping that he’ll come in and play straight away and make a difference in there.”

Cornes added: “They have their eye on someone, and the rug may be pulled away from them if another club up the top picks that player.

“They are going to get someone good, and the Houston-Pick 3 debate is one that we will not have the answer to for five years.”