HAVING turned over 42 players since Brendon Bolton took the reins as senior coach at the end of 2015, Carlton’s aggressive list turnover has left it with 20 players who started their careers at rival clubs.

With clubs recently finalising their lists ahead of 2018, that statistic is an AFL-high that towers over the league average of 10.

The Blues added six new players from rival clubs during this year's exchange and draft periods, giving them the most multi-club players for the second year running, despite losing five at the end of the season to retirement or delisting. 

Bolton and General Manager List Management and Strategy Stephen Silvagni have overseen the past three off-seasons at Carlton, bringing in 14 of the Club’s remaining players who started their careers elsewhere.

Six of those have come from Greater Western Sydney where they were originally recruited by Silvagni in his role as list manager between 2011-14. 

Lachie Plowman (20 games with the Giants), Andrew Phillips (14), Jed Lamb (10), Caleb Marchbank (seven), Jarrod Pickett (zero) all joined the Blues over the past two seasons, while midfielder Matt Kennedy was traded in this off-season.   

Former Gold Coast pair Jarrod Garlett and Matt Shaw, ex-Geelong midfielder Darcy Lang, former Kangaroo Aaron Mullett and Port Adelaide acquisitions Matthew Lobbe and Cam O'Shea were the others to most recently join the Blues. 

Last year's best-and-fairest winner Sam Docherty (Brisbane Lions) has played 79 games with the Club he supported as a child over the past four seasons, earning All Australian selection in 2017.   

Reborn defender Liam Jones (Western Bulldogs), midfielder Sam Kerridge (Adelaide), veteran Dale Thomas (Collingwood), forward Matthew Wright (Adelaide) and defender Alex Silvagni (Fremantle) have also arrived via other clubs.

Rounding out the group are experienced pair Ed Curnow and Sam Rowe, who started their careers as rookies at Adelaide and Sydney respectively.

 CLUBPLAYERS FROM OTHER CLUBS
CARLCarlton20
PORTPort Adelaide 13
STKSt Kilda13
COLLCollingwood12
MELBMelbourne12
BLBrisbane Lions11
ESSEssendon11
GWSGreater Western Sydney11
HAWHawthorn11
ADELAdelaide10
GEELGeelong10
GCFCGold Coast10 
NMFCNorth Melbourne9 
FREFremantle8
RICHRichmond8
WCEWest Coast8
WBWestern Bulldogs7
SydSydney4

Summary of 2018 AFL club lists

 CLUBAVERAGE AGE (YEARS, DAYS)AVERAGE GAMESFINALS100+ GAMESYET TO DEBUTFROM OTHER AFL CLUBS
ADELAdelaide24192681781413 10
BLBrisbane Lions231285465 9 1111
CARLCarlton2324456567820
COLLCollingwood249868116131012
ESSEssendon2335558639911
FREFremantle232926314413128
GEELGeelong24956520913 1210
GCFCGold Coast 232253337810
GWSGreater Western Sydney241664143101111
HAWHawthorn241797426517911
MELBMelbourne2333557448912
NMFCNorth Melbourne23117 5210710119
PORTPort Adelaide245073109171013
RICHRichmond232556211411 88
STKSt Kilda2320153321010 13
SYDSydney 23343 6630311124
WCEWest Coast232826416915168
WBWestern Bulldogs2325956129977
AVERAGE2333861127111010