Here's what Fox sports thought
Quote:
What went wrong
The final month. More specifically, the two final quarters of the final two games of the season. When the Blues twice had the chance to secure a finals berth and break a nine-year September drought, they conceded last-gasp goals to Demon Kysaiah Pickett and Magpie Jamie Elliott, leading to consecutive weeks of heartbreaking scenes. But the Blues will look back on that ugly 29-point loss to 15th-placed Adelaide in Round 20 and cringe. Win that game and the Blues would’ve been playing finals. Instead they had to find an upset win over top-six sides Brisbane, Melbourne and Collingwood in the final three rounds – a task they couldn’t complete. Injuries didn’t help, with George Hewett, Matt Kennedy and Nic Newman all significant absentees in the final few games. Harry McKay, Mitch McGovern, Marc Pittonet, Oscar McDonald, Zac Williams, Jack Martin and Caleb Marchbank also missed various chunks of time during the season. The Blues’ scoring declined after their bye too, averaging 77.3 points — ranked 13th in the competition during that time. Overall, the fact the Blues missed finals with 12 wins and a percentage of 108 proved how tough the competition was this season, but also how big an opportunity that went begging.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/brutal-reviews-what-went-wrong-for-bottom-10-and-who-they-now-must-target/news-story/a4af7bf59dc2ff6fafd677c2ec5564ea?recommendedCount=0