Injured Carlton midfielder Dale Thomas believes that Mick Malthouse is the man to lead Carlton through their regeneration, urging his club to re-sign the veteran coach.
Malthouse, 61, becomes the all-time coaching games recordholder in a fortnight, but is under immense pressure after his team's start to the year. He is out of contract at season's end, and Blues chief executive Steven Trigg and president Mark Lo Giudice both conceded during the week that the club needed to rebuild.
But Thomas, 27, who followed Malthouse to the Blues from Collingwood at the end of 2013, threw his support behind the embattled triple-premiership coach.
Asked on Triple M before Saturday's game if Malthouse was capable of leading the Blues into the future, Thomas said: "I certainly believe so. The results in the past have shown it. When he got to the Pies they weren't in the best position. Him and Eddie McGuire single-handedly took them to repeat grand finals."
However, Thomas said he did not agree with Malthouse's assertion that the conjecture surrounding the coaching situation could distract the team.
Trigg added on ABC Radio that Malthouse was doing everything in his power to help Carlton.
"Yeah, there's some people who have been quick to fire upon him. He's also very clear what we need to do in terms of the messaging.
"He's rolled the sleeves up, he's on the same page with everybody, he's the most experienced coach in the competition, one of the best developers of people."
But the former Adelaide chief reiterated that the Blues would not be making a call on Malthouse until the second half of the year.
"We've got no margin for error, we need to get the coaching decision right."
Thomas is in the second year of a four-year deal at the Blues believed to be worth just under $700,000 annually. When he joined Carlton, the club had just come off a season in which it snuck into the finals before defeating Richmond on the way to a semi-final exit against Sydney.
Despite the club being winless in 2015 after just seven victories last year, Thomas suggested the Blues were in a better place than they had been when he joined.
"I think it's a different place to what it was last year in finishing the year, but in saying that I think it's for the better. The results haven't been for the better, but from the players' point of view, the way we've attacked the pre-season, the way we we're moving the footy compared to what I saw when I first rolled up a year ago."
In better news for Carlton, Thomas said he expected to be back within two to three weeks from the injury he sustained in round one.
