Why Koutoufides is “demoralised” by the Blues' recent descend

Carlton’s struggles have been well-documented across 2025, and with the most difficult run home of any team in the AFL, it certainly won’t get any easier.

This Friday night, the Blues face up against the old enemy in Collingwood, a clash with a storied history that could also mark the end of Carlton’s season with seven games still to play.

Sitting in 11th place with just six wins from 15 games, the Blues’ strong list and brilliant run through 2023 and into early 2024 appears as short-lived as any competitor in recent history.

Given this season is all but over, with the club’s significant list troubles and lack of future prospects, Carlton’s dire 30-year drought appears as safe a streak as any, much to the dismay of Blues legend Anthony Koutoufides.

As an admirable footballer turned fan of the club, Kouta expressed his immense disappointment in the club’s past and future trajectory.

“It’s been tough,” Koutoufides told SEN Breakfast.

“As a Carlton supporter, sometimes you just want to hide and cop a hammering off the others as we deserve. That’s all part of footy and we accept it, but it’s been a really tough time for the Carlton supporters.

“My young boy Lucas loves them; he’d go and sit in the cheer squad in the past and even he is demoralised so I can only imagine what some of the other kids are feeling right now.

“The second half of 2023 was the most remarkable season by the Carlton Football Club and the supporters were upbeat and up and about.

“That finals game against Melbourne I had a tear in my eye, because finally after all those years we felt like Carlton was back.

“Last year, the first half of the season, I pencilled them in for the premiership and then the downhill spiral after that, I’ve never seen a club just fall apart like they did last year, and although they made finals they didn’t really put up a fight against Brisbane.

“I just feel sad for the players more so, because when I think about it now, when I was a young kid growing up as a mad Collingwood supporter, Carlton were THE team, the team of the nation, I never really understood until I got there how incredible it was.

“The culture at that football club, I was surrounded by premiership players and superstars, there were standards at that club that we had to meet if we wanted to play senior footy.

“Out of the 17 seasons I was there on the list, I got to experience the most remarkable football club for 12 seasons.

“The last five seasons was very difficult for me, because I loved the club, I was an older player, and I just wanted to play finals footy, and it wasn’t to be the case.

“Leadership at the football club then wasn’t great, and I’m not within the confined walls at Carlton, I can only look from the outside, but I just feel sorry for the players.

“I want them to experience the Carlton Football Club. They got a glimpse in the last few years of how powerful it is.

“But if we start winning, getting finals and finally win that premiership, they’re going to see the most incredible football club. Right now, people are just unsure of what’s going on.”

Diving into the on-field struggles, Koutoufides feels that despite the heavy contest-based brand the Blues have built over the years, the current squad lacks the skill required to compete with the best.

“I look at them and I see them bash and crash kind of team,” he continued.

“They’re hard and tough but you see that they lack the skill. Other teams get out and they start kicking the ball, getting through the zones, Carlton lack a little bit of that at this stage.

“We know that at their best they can beat any team, but this year obviously they are not showing it. To see the last two games, it’s really hard to imagine how they could play so bad.

“I just hope they turn it around. Footy is a tough game, we live our lives with footy, and if you’re not playing well, you feel it, and if your teams not winning you feel it too.

“It’s a tough caper, and it looks easy from the outside, but I just hope that they can turn it around because footy controls your life.

“The way they’re playing now I know they’re going to feel it. I know Crippa, as the great leader that he’s been - he’s been a warrior for us for many years, and I know he’s trying to rally the players around him.

“We hope Friday night is the start of something, but it’s going to be really difficult.”

As history suggests, Round 17’s prime-time clash with Collingwood is certain to rile up a struggling Carlton side, with the oldest rivals battling it out from 7:20pm AEST at the ‘G.