Carlton have slumped to their worst start to an AFL season with a 21-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs, taking their win-loss record to 0-6.
The inaccurate Bulldogs endured a nervous final term on Friday night but prevailed for a scrappy 11.14 (80) to 8.11 (59) 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 Blues dominated the final term but star forward Charlie Curnow missed two sitters in quick succession 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 production from the likes of Sam Petrevski-Seton, Matthew Kennedy and Paddy Dow.
Big things were predicted for Carlton this year but in their 120-year VFL/AFL history, the Blues have never started a season so poorly.
The loss will be particularly tough to swallow for Blues fans given Carlton, for once, had experience on their side - they fielded 10 players above the age of 25 compared with just two for the Bulldogs.
"We feel their frustration," Bolton said.
"We know that this hasn't happened in the club's history.
"It hurts. Players hurt, coaches hurt and I'm sure our supporters hurt that we haven't got a win on the scoreboard yet. We're going to work incredibly hard, but it is the first time in history too that we've had a genuine rebuild."
The Dogs led at every break but were poor in front of goal and again struggled with the skill errors that haunted them during 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 trademark rapid ball movement.
"I thought for four quarters we were pretty constant with the pressure we put on and our involvement in the game," coach Luke Beveridge said.
"We've had ebbs and flows and lapses in that throughout the course of the year so that was positive."
Carlton 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 during the off-season.
Kreuzer, who was rested with groin soreness, is likely to return for next week's clash with the Crows along with swingman Jacob Weitering but Murphy (foot) is still three weeks away and Docherty (knee) is out for the season.
