"Early in the year and still now, it's a season, so you are not thinking, wanting to turn anyone's focus away from trying to perform and grow. "We will be open minded about revisiting it at the end of the year, I would have thought." Liddle had said in May: "The reason it wasn’t even thought about and that we’re not interested in it is because we’re really confident in the plan and the kids we’ve been able to bring in." Blues football director Chris Judd even said at the time the AFL should no longer award priority picks. Industry insiders say the struggling Blues would likely receive a selection at the end of the first round should the AFL Commission agree the Blues, already set to have the No.1 selection, require assistance.

The Blues applied for a priority pick in 2015, having won the wooden spoon, but were rejected by the AFL. There will be more change at Princes Park once this wretched campaign is done, although Bolton has declared this offseason should be more stable, having turned over 42 players in his three years. He would not provide a number on the expected turnover this year but said it would not be double digits. The Blues have several list-management decisions to make, including on veterans Dale Thomas, Sam Rowe and Matthew Wright. Rowe told The Age last month he wanted to play on. Bolton said discussions would begin this month. He re-iterated the Blues were after strong talent in the mid-20s age group to help their emerging talent develop. "I wouldn't like to put a number on it (list turnover) just yet but, clearly, with this build, we went that way (to the draft) to get the underbelly of young talent in which we have but there has been a real trade-off there in that process, that 22 to 27-year-old, there is a gap," he said.

"We do need to, if possible, find players in that demographic as well as draft. Also, there is a cost to cutting a lot of players around cohesion, continuity, synergy, all those words people talk about that the great teams have. We just have got to be mindful of how many (are cut). I wouldn't have thought there are double figures like we have had in the last two or three years." The Blues are coming off a 105-point drubbing to an injury-hit Greater Western Sydney that had only 16 players on the field at one stage in the final term, and Bolton said this season "had thrown challenges that we probably didn't expect as much". "Some are those challenging realities around turnover per games of players. We have had players in games get injured and then each week four to five changes - a big injury toll and that coupled with a young list," he said. "That's made it really challenging and made us not only coach the tactical side of the game and the fundamentals but also really clearly the dynamics of the group and the way and the vibe around the club. It's not that it's been a challenge that we haven't been up for, we have done it, but it was one that was unexpected that we would need to do it to that level."

Bolton said he was hopeful ruckman Matthew Kreuzer would return either against Fremantle on Sunday or within the next fortnight. Kreuzer has not played at a senior level since suffering an elevated heartbeat against St Kilda in round 17. "We are really hopeful. What has happened, the specialists have been doing some testing with him. As a result, he has had a really interrupted training program. Now it's just been a few weeks, so we have been building him back up," he said. "We are really hopeful if it's this week or next week he is up and about again." Bolton said Jack Silvagni (ankle) and Jacob Weitering (corked leg) needed to prove their fitness at training, having missed the stinging loss to the Giants.