Update
Carlton have made the call to sack head coach Brendon Bolton.
Bolton leaves the club after 77 games in three-and-a-half seasons, chalking up just 16 wins in his time at the Blues.
Earlier
Former St Kilda and Essendon star Brendon Goddard has said that Carlton's players will suffer if the Blues do not make a decision on Brendon Bolton’s future soon.
Carlton slumped to their 10th loss this season on Sunday, going down to Essendon by 41 points in wet conditions at the MCG.
Carlton were thrashed in the game, only managing to kick four goals in a match that was riddled with skill error.
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With just one win this season, and only four out of the past 43 games, the pressure on Bolton to keep his job is enormous, amid reports that Carlton president Mark LoGiudice and Carlton Head of Football Brad Lloyd had met Monday morning.
“I think something has to be done, and quickly,” Goddard told RSN Breakfast Club.
“(Either) the club can come out and say ‘we’re not making a decision’, and be really firm… say that 'we aren’t making a decision on (Bolton’s) future until the end of the year'.
“Or that they come out… and make the decision.
“Either way, make a firm statement.”
Goddard went on to say that this needed to be done more for the players than anyone else, to give them a clear view of what the club will look like.
“Provide clarity for supporters…but more importantly the players," Goddard said.
“A lot of those guys are sitting back there, because they’re young, so (they) don’t ask a lot of questions, and (they) don’t have the confidence to talk to people and the hierarchy within footy clubs.
“They need this security and clarity with what’s going to happen.”
Journalist Mark Stevens agreed with Goddard, saying that now is the time for Carlton act, one way or another.
“I think if you’re going to back Bolton in, you get the President Mark LoGiudice and Bolton together, have a joint press conference and say… ‘this guy is the coach for the rest of the season'.
“If not, I think they have to move because there’s a tipping point.”
Stevens went on theorise that if Bolton were to lose his job this year, it is possible that injured defender Sam Docherty could take over the reigns for the rest of the season.
“Hypothetically, if (Bolton) went, they’d just give the job to Docherty for the rest of the year," Stevens said.
“He’s obviously not going to coach beyond this year, but just to fill in and pull the place together while they found another (coach).”
