AFL wooden spoon doesn't bother Bolton

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton is focusing on the long-term gains the club can make from the back end of their AFL season.

Brendon Bolton.

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton has urged Blues fans to stay the course with the embattled club. (AAP)

The AFL wooden spoon has edged closer to Carlton but Blues coach Brendon Bolton says he is unconcerned by it.

The Blues were thoroughly worked over by Geelong at Etihad Stadium, losing by 65 points on Saturday.

Earlier North Melbourne conjured an against-the-odds win over Melbourne in Hobart that saw the Blues drop to 17th.

Bolton's side have now lost six in a row and sit just one win and seven per cent above last-placed Brisbane.

While it's hard to see where Carlton's next win comes from, two home games for the Lions against the Kangaroos (16th) and Gold Coast (15th) to come suggest Chris Fagan's side could yet avoid finishing last.

The Blues face Essendon and Hawthorn in Melbourne and West Coast and Sydney on the road in a taxing end to the campaign.

Even finishing second-bottom would be a major step backwards given last year's 14th-place finish.

Bolton insists he is not worried.

"I don't look for the spoon or give that a consideration," he said.

"All we do is go and look for what we lessons we can learn from games ... (learning) is really important with a young group."

The second-year coach pointed to Sam Petrevski-Seton's 20-possession game in midfield and Levi Casboult's three goals as positives from Saturday night.

He urged Carlton fans to stay the course with the club, which has signalled its intention to rebuild from the ground up.

"We called it a journey for a reason," he said.

"What (fans) are getting to see is a young group get exposure, and given our position they're getting a lot of exposure in (new) positions and that's good for us.

"We said there were going to be some ups and downs ... although it's difficult when its a bit bumpy we think it will pay us back and we'll learn from it."


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Source: AAP



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