Midway through the second quarter on Sunday, Brendon Bolton's green shoots were starting to blossom at Etihad Stadium.
Carlton were never going to beat GWS in their AFL clash but they had outscored the Giants and reduced the margin to 20 points.
Those green shoots, the signs of life that the Carlton coach has spoken about in their rebuild, were on display.
Charlie Curnow had marked and kicked a goal, Harry McKay had kicked three, Patrick Cripps was butting heads with Callan Ward in the midfield.
But by halftime, the Giants had trampled the Blues' gardening with five unanswered goals.
It was the most disappointing aspect of the 105-point loss for Bolton, even worse than the Giants outscoring them by seven goals to one in the last quarter, despite having no fit men on the interchange bench.
Bolton also pointed to the third quarter, when Carlton had more inside 50s and still could not challenge the Giants.
It was another low point as the Blues head to their second wooden spoon in four seasons.
Bolton said they deliberately did not stack players behind the ball because it meant a valuable lesson for their midfielders.
"It gives a great feel to Paddy Dow, what it's like to run next with next to (Josh) Kelly for a while," Bolton said.
"I wanted our players to learn from this opportunity ... to feel what the running power is required."
While Cripps had an absorbing duel with Ward, Bolton was in no mood to score their contest.
"You have to look at the midfield battle - they won that, clearly," Bolton said.
"I'm not here to individualise it because it needs to be about Cripps and our young mids working together.
"(The Giants) got the chocolates."
Likewise, while McKay impressed with three goals, Bolton said he had plenty of improvement in him.
"That's probably the best output we've seen from Harry this year," Bolton said.
"He still has a lot of work to do on his defensive game - a heap to do, in fact."
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