'They probably have to': Carlton urged to trade Harry McKay after 'embarrassing' loss

The wheels have fallen off at Carlton and the future of every key member of the club has been called into question.

Coach Michael Voss is firmly in the hot seat, with fans vocally questioning his future following his side's loss to North Melbourne on Saturday.

The Blues will finish the round two games out of the top eight, but looking a mile off the best sides and with Port Adelaide (away), Collingwood, Brisbane and Hawthorn among their next five games.

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With finals now looking unlikely for a team that came into the year with premiership aspirations, Richmond champion Matthew Richardson wonders whether they need to let a star player go for draft assets in order to flush the side with young talent.

He sees key forward Harry McKay as the most likely candidate to be traded.

"I think they will look at trading one of those big names out, for sure," Richardson told 3AW.

"They probably have to (trade one of them). You're going to get two good picks for one of those guys.

"I think if you look at it, who is the most tradeable out of those three? Probably Harry.

"They've got two big key forwards and I know a few clubs that would love a big key forward. Midfielders, you can find them somewhere else."

Carlton currently doesn't have a first round pick, having traded it last year as part of acquiring pick three in the draft and Jagga Smith. The Blues will receive a top pick if ruckman Tom De Koning departs for St Kilda via free agency.

Both McKay and star midfielder Sam Walsh were absent from the loss with injuries.

Essendon goal-kicking great Matthew Lloyd labelled the loss to the Roos, which saw the Blues give up 12 goals across the middle two quarters, "embarrassing".

"The disappointing part is they've had Essendon, West Coast and North Melbourne. They played one good quarter against Essendon and then fell away, West Coast one good quarter and fell away, and then against North Melbourne the second and third quarters were just embarrassing football," Lloyd told Nine's The Sunday Footy Show.

"There were a lot of upset Carlton fans. There were a lot of boos and bronx cheers. Voss went really hard at his midfield group at three-quarter time."

Leading AFL journalist Damien Barrett believes Voss will have the remainder of the season to turn things around before new chief Graham Wright makes a call on his future.

"If they do fall short (of making finals), I think he's been around long enough to know these things are looked at," Barrett said.

"I think he's got this season to sort out what the issues are before they even go down that path.

"We know Graham Wright is not going to come in and accept what has now happened for 12 months."

Carlton head of football Brad Lloyd said the blame for the club's inconsistency should not be lumped on just the coach.

"(Voss) has been working really hard with the playing group and we are not getting the results but it's not just a Michael Voss question; it puts pressure on everyone," Lloyd told 3AW.

"We had a good last quarter but it was way too late by then. We know North is a good building side but it was a pretty disappointing performance. A very flat feeling in the rooms and we have got to stay resilient and respond to it.

"We haven't met expectations. We should be going better than we are now.

"We are defending better and we are still a good contested ball side, but we haven't been able to capitalise with the ball going forward. We are not in great form but we will keep working at it.

"We have had a few bits and pieces go on, we have got a good core group that can carry us through, but players and staff need to keep at it."