It will be a long trip back to back home for the winless Carlton, after suffering a humiliating 86-point thumping at the hands of North Melbourne in Tasmania.
The woes began even before the opening bounce for the Blues, with skipper Marc Murphy forced to pull out of the game after a plantar fascia injury sustained in the warm-up.
North conversely had no such issues, with key forward and hometown hero Ben Brown unstoppable with five majors, while Shaun Higgins chimed in with a game-high 35 touches.
With the breeze blowing Carlton's way in the opening term, the Blues were determined to establish a healthy lead amid the near-horizontal rainfall.
The plan began ideally for Carlton, with Matthew Wright kicking the first of the evening after winning a free kick from a high tackle.
But the Blues soon faltered; their haphazard bombs into the forward line standing in stark contrast to North's clean ball use, ultimately limiting Carlton to just one major for the term and half as many inside 50s (16-8).
Clean passages of play proved to be invaluable and something the Blues sorely lacked, with the Roos capitalising on a series of strong marks from half-back, which eventually allowed Jack Ziebell to slot the Roos' first midway through the term.
The evergreen Jarrad Waite soon followed up with a goal of his own after being rewarded a free for holding the ball, before Brown showed up the Blues' defence with back-to-back majors only moments later.
Along with their poor skill execution, Carlton appeared to be near ineffectual around the stoppages, with North on top of the contested possession count 47-29, easily controlling the ball among the throng of players.
A poster from Brown in the final minute served as a gracious reprieve for the flailing Blues, leaving them 23 points down at quarter-time.
With a message to lift their intensity from coach Brendon Bolton, the stagnant Blues from the opening term were replaced by a free-flowing outfit; their press challenging the North defence early on.
Jarrod Garlett narrowly squeezed a goal over the head of Jamie Macmillan to open the scoring account for the Blues; the reward for their newfound pressure paying early dividends.
But it would be a long time before their next major, with the Roos persevering through the initial surge and piling on five in a row.
Shaun Atley and Jed Anderson joined the party with individual majors, before cult hero Brown added two more to his tally, one of which included a perfect set shot banana on the boundary.
As the ex-Blue in Waite notched up North's fifth in a row with a clever toe-poke in the square much to Carlton's chagrin, the margin had hit a game-high 46 points.
Jack Silvagni had an opportunity to break the onslaught, but following his initial miss made amends to give the Blues a much-needed major only moments later.
Apart from the opening stages of the term, the Blues lacked aggression and physicality, with the only spirit coming from Patrick Cripps, who went straight for Ben Jacobs after being tunnelled in a contest.
Yet Cripps' fire did little to spark anything within the Blues, who entered half-time 39 points down with numerous problems to rectify going into the second half.
While North's goal scoring was sporadic throughout the third term, Carlton's was non-existent after registering just one minor score for the quarter.
Brown catapulted himself to second position on the Coleman leaderboard after securing his fifth for the night eight mintues into the term, before Jy Simpkin converted his first from a set shot minutes later.
North continued to humiliate the lacklustre Blues, with Hartung showing off his speed and burning past several Carlton defenders before booting yet another, while Atley capitalised off a wayward spoil in the goal square from Liam Jones.
A classy set shot from the prolific Higgins ballooned the margin out to 69 points, as the Blues struggled to find any consistency to impact the scoreboard.
Garlett once again commenced proceedings for the Blues a mere 20 seconds into the term, but what remaining confidence they had was sapped out after North stacked another four to their tally and easily ran out the game.
Waite, Atley and Ziebell added more goals beside their names - all finishing with three apiece - as the Blues continued to flounder in a quarter absent of highlights.
Now sitting at 0-4, Carlton will be aiming to secure a much-needed win against West Coast on Saturday afternoon, while North Melbourne will be channelling their confidence from this week into their clash against Hawthorn.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.5 9.6 14.7 18.8 (116)
CARLTON 1.0 3.3 3.4 4.6 (30)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 5, Waite 3, Atley 3, Ziebell 3, Simpkin, Higgins, Hartung, Anderson derson
Carlton: Garlett 2, Wright, Silvagni
BEST
North Melbourne: Brown, Waite, Higgins, Ziebell, Tarrant, Thompson
Carlton: Cripps, E. Curnow, Thomas, Garlett
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Carlton: Murphy (foot, Graham came in as replacement)
TALKING POINTS
1. CARLTON'S BLUES
It was difficult to pinpoint many positives for the Blues, with the 86-point loss resulting in their fourth consecutive loss for the season.
Carlton were smacked around the stoppages by the fluent North Melbourne, who easily overcame the struggling Blues by the end of the match.
A lack of physicality and pressure subsequently allowed the Roos to bound over their opposition, particularly in the second and third terms, in which Carlton as a whole were close to non-existent.
Despite the unfavourable conditions for patches of the game, the Blues only managed to score a disappointing 4.6 for the game from 42 entries.
With coach Brendon Bolton adamant post-match their performance was "not what [the Blues] stand for", there will need to be a dramatic turnaround if they are to avoid a fifth defeat next week.
2. WATCH OUT, BUDDY, BIG BEN IS COMING
Coming off the back of a four-goal haul last week, Ben Brown once again reaffirmed his importance to the developing Roos with five goals against the Blues.
Ominous as ever up forward, Brown was all over the Carlton defence, notching up five marks inside the forward 50 along with 17 disposals.
Now in second position on the Coleman leaderboard, Brown sits two behind Lance Franklin following his efforts from tonight, and stands a chance in leapfrogging to top spot next week.
Keep in mind Brown was kept goalless in the season opener against Gold Coast in torrid conditions.
For those who thought Lance Franklin would stand unopposed in the race for the Coleman Medal, think again.
3. MARC MURPHY INJURY WOES
As if it couldn't get any worse for the Blues, Marc Murphy may be set for a long stint on the sidelines after a plantar fascia complaint.
The Carlton skipper was ruled him out of the game just minutes before the opening bounce, forcing Nick Graham to come in as his replacement.
Murphy's presence and class on the ground was sorely missed, as the Blues were dominated across the centre of the ground.
Seen with a moonboot on post-match, Carlton fans will be hoping the injury will not see their beloved skipper miss a sizeable portion of the season.
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