BRETT Ratten's beleaguered Blues have received a vote of confidence from club great Anthony Koutoufides, who believes Carlton is still capable of winning the flag this year despite its current form slump.

After a bright start to the season, the Blues have been pilloried in the media and had their toughness questioned on the back of disappointing losses to St Kilda and Adelaide in the past fortnight.

Playmaker Marc Murphy compounded Carlton's woes when he joined stoppage specialist Andrew Carrazzo on the sidelines after sustaining a serious shoulder injury against the Crows, but Koutoufides remains bullish about the Blues' premiership chances.
 
"They still have the potential to go all the way in my opinion," Koutoufides said.

"You can turn a season around, but now is a really challenging time.

"Every team gets tested throughout a season and this is a period where they've certainly been tested. They've really got to stand up [regardless] of injuries or whatever."

However Koutoufides, who played 278 games for the Blues between 1992 and 2007, said that Ratten's team must work hard to regain the respect lost after the 69-point hammering at the hands of Adelaide.

"Last week the effort wasn't there and a lot of people said that they couldn't stay and watch it, which is disappointing because they're a very good team in my opinion," he said.

"Even in the loss to St Kilda I saw glimpses of a team that can really play footy, but they just weren't tough enough.

"They got physically beaten on the night - there's no doubt about it."

Following the injury to Carrazzo, who fractured his right shoulder blade in the opening minutes of the round four loss to Essendon, Carlton has plummeted to last place in the AFL in clearances between rounds four and eight.

Koutoufides agreed Carrazzo is an important cog in the Blues' midfield machine, but doubted his absence was the sole reason for the team's slide at the stoppages.

"You would hope not because a good team will always stand up if they've got important players missing, but his loss certainly has had some effect," he said.

"The thing with Carrazzo is his ability to be able to stop someone, but also be damaging in getting the ball himself. That certainly helps a team and he is a very physical and tough player, but you would hope the team is not just relying on that one person.

"In order for any team to mature you can't just be relying on one player."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs