CARLTON premiership great Mark Maclure says the Blues would have made the eight this year with Eddie Betts, Jarrad Waite and Jeff Garlett running riot in the forward line.

Instead, Waite and Betts starred in weekend finals wins for Adelaide and North Melbourne, while another discarded Blue, midfielder Mitch Robinson, claimed the Brisbane Lions best and fairest in a four-way tie.

Former Blues Josh Kennedy (West Coast), Sam Jacobs (Adelaide), Jeremy Laidler (Sydney) and Shaun Grigg (Richmond) also featured in finals action.

Betts has kicked 63 goals this season and Waite 39.

Garlett, traded to Melbourne for picks 61 and 79 last year, booted 40 goals in his debut Demons season.

“Carlton could have made the eight this year if they had maintained and managed those players,” Maclure told the Herald Sun.

“The evidence is clear enough. They have ended up with no forward line whatsoever. Someone was in charge of the wheel, but they will never put their hand up.

“Seriously, it’s hurt the football club.

“You’ve got to score — the only pressure you can put on is when you put scoreboard pressure on.

“They had a dangerous forward line — Betts, Garlett, (Chris) Yarran, (Andrew) Walker and Waite. The forward line was there but someone had a different philosophy.

“It’s a disaster really.”

CARLTON premiership great Mark Maclure says the Blues would have made the eight this year with Eddie Betts, Jarrad Waite and Jeff Garlett running riot in the forward line.

Instead, Waite and Betts starred in weekend finals wins for Adelaide and North Melbourne, while another discarded Blue, midfielder Mitch Robinson, claimed the Brisbane Lions best and fairest in a four-way tie.

Former Blues Josh Kennedy (West Coast), Sam Jacobs (Adelaide), Jeremy Laidler (Sydney) and Shaun Grigg (Richmond) also featured in finals action.

Betts has kicked 63 goals this season and Waite 39.

Garlett, traded to Melbourne for picks 61 and 79 last year, booted 40 goals in his debut Demons season.

“Carlton could have made the eight this year if they had maintained and managed those players,” Maclure told the Herald Sun.

“The evidence is clear enough. They have ended up with no forward line whatsoever. Someone was in charge of the wheel, but they will never put their hand up.

“Seriously, it’s hurt the football club.

“You’ve got to score — the only pressure you can put on is when you put scoreboard pressure on.

“They had a dangerous forward line — Betts, Garlett, (Chris) Yarran, (Andrew) Walker and Waite. The forward line was there but someone had a different philosophy.

“It’s a disaster really.”

We're not going to go anywhere if we keep trading our good players away. If ever there was a weekend that said that we messed it up with Kennedy, Betts and Waite it was this weekend. I don't care what reason you give for the trade. The point is that we should have had an environment where the players never wanted to leave. We should never have traded any of them. Quite simply you win games when you score more than the opposition. No wonder we are on the bottom if all of our best scorers are at other clubs.

It's going to be even tougher to beat the ex Blues next year as Henderson, Yarran, Menzel and Bell are added to Kennedy, Betts, Waite, Grigg, Laidler, Garlett, Robinson, Hampson and Jacobs. That's 13. Could Essendon*** pick up Nick Holman and make it 14 ex players? That would be some sort of record surely.

We're better off without all of them, with the exception of Kennedy and Betts (who are the only two in that list that have the heart and the talent to slot into a premiership-capable team).