Carlton has risked more than a first-round pick on its 2019 finish and will need to get creative to strengthen list
Much has been made of Carlton’s decision to trade its first pick in this year’s draft for Liam Stocker. But there’s another trade that is leaving the Blues facing a draft wasteland unless they can climb the ladder — fast.
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Battling Carlton will head into the 2019 draft with only a single pick inside the first two rounds after trading away their second-round pick for Will Setterfield.
Carlton’s risky decision to secure Liam Stocker has been well scrutinised, with the Blues set to hand over the No. 1 pick to Adelaide and receive pick 12 back on current ladder position.
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But Carlton doubled down on its potential improvement but also trading its 2019 second round pick and pick 43 for GWS midfielder Setterfield and pick 71.
Right now that pick is sitting at 19 and would have been a valuable card to play in a draft with elite midfield stocks or as a trade centrepiece.
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At least Carlton has its third-round selection (currently 37) and Adelaide’s third-round selection — currently 48 — but those picks will likely blow out past 40 when academy bids and free agency compensation picks are factored in.
In an ideal scenario the Blues would have surged up the ladder and shown such improvement they had few list holes to fill in.
Instead Setterfield is taking time to work into form off a 2018 knee reconstruction and the Blues are a game and percentage away from 17th spot on the ladder.
The Blues were always aware Setterfield would take time to mature given he had played just two AFL games in 2017 because of injury worries.
But in six games the 192cm midfielder averages just 44 ratings points, and ranks below average in possessions, kicking, metres gained and scoreboard impact.
Carlton could not be more impressed with Liam Stocker’s early signs in three games — especially his performance against Collingwood.
But the Blues need to climb out of the bottom two for the deal not to backfire given the star power available in Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, the likely first two picks in the 2019 national draft.
Carlton’s only saving grace is that it is unlikely to lose the first pick in May 27’s mid-season draft, four premiership points and 5.6 percentage points behind 17th-placed North Melbourne.
Another 18th placing would be their fifth wooden spoon since 2002, the Blues never before having finished last before that season.
Hawthorn and Collingwood have both paid the price for trading future first-round selections then slumping down the ladder in the next season.
Hawthorn’s complicated deal to secure Jaeger O’Meara included a 2017 first-round pick that ended up being pick seven but was pick two as late as Round 13.
Collingwood traded two first-rounders for Adam Treloar — one of them a future pick that became No. 7 after the Pies battled to 12th spot — but got back pick 28.
Originally published as Carlton has risked more than a first-round pick on its 2019 finish and will need to get creative to strengthen list
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