Woeful Blues off to worst start yet

CARLTON has slumped to its worst start to an AFL season with a 21-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, taking their record to 0-6.

The inaccurate Bulldogs endured a nervous final term last night but prevailed for a scrappy win at Etihad Stadium.

Jack Macrae (32 disposals) and Marcus Bontempelli (30) starred for the Bulldogs along with young forward Patrick Lipinski (three goals), while midfield bull Patrick Cripps was enormous for Carlton with 32 disposals, 24 contested possessions and 12 clearances.

The Dogs led at every break but were poor in front of goal and again struggled with the skill errors that cost them in last week’s 54-point loss to Fremantle.

But with half the players from their 2016 premiership side missing, the Dogs were impressive around the contests and showed glimpses of their best ball movement.

The Blues dominated the final term but star forward Charlie Curnow missed two sitters to dash hopes of a late resurgence.

Cripps and Zac Fisher (28 disposals, eight clearances) were outstanding in the engine room but coach Brendon Bolton would have loved more from Sam Petrevski-Seton, Matthew Kennedy and Paddy Dow.

Big things were predicted for Carlton this year but in their 120-year VFL/AFL his- tory, the Blues have never started a season so poorly.

The loss will be particularly tough to swallow given the Blues had experience on their side — they fielded 10 players above the age of 25 compared with two for the Bulldogs.

Bolton’s side were missing their top-four finishers in last year’s best and fairest count — skipper Marc Murphy, Sam Docherty, ruckman Matthew Kreuzer and star midfielder Bryce Gibbs, who was traded to Adelaide in the off- season.

Kreuzer, who was rested with groin soreness, is set to return for next week’s clash with the Crows but Murphy (foot) is still three weeks away and Docherty (knee) is out for the season.