Just as Dennis Denuto hoped the vibe would stop the bulldozers from razing the Kerrigan family home, Brendon Bolton wants it to attract off-season gold to Carlton.
The Blues coach hopes trade targets look past the club's miserable finish to the season when it comes to choosing new homes.
The vibe: Blues coach Brendon Bolton.
The Blues finished the season on a low on Saturday night, losing by 104 points to an Adelaide side with little to play for at Etihad Stadium.
If not for a superhuman effort from Patrick Cripps, who gathered 37 touches en route to a new contested possession season record, it would have been far worse.
Midfield support for the 23-year-old warrior must be high on Bolton's off-season shopping list.
Premium ball-winners Dylan Shiel and Andrew Gaff could be on the market, as well as aerial monster Mitch McGovern.
Bolton admitted "people that want instantaneous success" were likely to look elsewhere but those that looked deeply at potential new homes would like what they see.
"Internally we've got a really strong vibe," he said.
"There's high rigour and challenge … what's needs to be challenged gets challenged and what needs to be celebrated gets celebrated.
"It's a place where you grow not only as footballers.
"When you create an environment like that, potential trade targets understand that and I think you can get them through the door."
The Blues' third 100-point defeat of the season was locked in by the second-term departures of Jacob Weitering (concussion) and Charlie Curnow (knee).
Bolton said it appeared Curnow, 21, had suffered a medial strain.
"Usually with a medial you get braced up for about a month and they start to settle and you build up again," he said.
Carlton is just the fifth team in the last 32 years to record less than three wins in a campaign.
Bolton said the adversity would eventually hold the Blues in good stead.
"We've faced some really challenging realities this year and that's made it difficult," he said.
"We've had about 240-odd games missed through injury where the best teams have missed around 100.
"It puts enormous pressure … we played guys in multiple positions which we wouldn't ordinarily do and we played a lot of our youngsters a little bit more early.
"In some time we'll look back and say this time paid us back."
AAP
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