CARLTON'S head of AFLW has defended the decision to not offer former skipper Kerryn Peterson a new contract just months after the birth of her first child.

Peterson sat out the entire 2025 season and gave birth to a son, Max, in August.

On the field, the Blues stormed back up the ladder after a number of lean years and made a preliminary final for the first time since 2019.

Having covered Peterson's absence on the field this year, the Blues were also aggressive at the trade table in recent weeks, bringing in Lauren Bella, Claudia Whitfort and Brooke Boileau, which put a squeeze on list spots.

Peterson's contract expired at the end of the 2025 campaign and the club announced last week that she would not be given a new deal.

It is understood that if Peterson's recovery time following her pregnancy was a concern, one option Carlton could have considered would have been to offer her a tier-four contract (minimum AFLW wage) and make her inactive, meaning she could have been replaced in the squad of 30.

The club's head of AFLW Ash Naulty said the call on Peterson was "really tough", but was purely a football decision.

"It was a really tough decision. Kerryn's legacy that she'll leave on the football club is just absolutely outstanding. The success we had this year is off the back of Kerryn's leadership and her devotion to the Carlton Football Club," Naulty said.

"It was ultimately a footballing decision that was really tough to make, and that was off the back of Harriet Cordner being in the All-Australian team this year, the success of Maddy Hendrie and Ciara Fitzgerald, both finishing in the top 10 of our B&F.

"Amelia Velardo played most games this season and had significant impact and that decision came purely on the success of those players there. We're still undecided as to whether Poppy (Scholz) is a back or a forward as well. 

"As I said, we can't underestimate the impact Kerryn had on our footy club, she'll be forever known as a great Carlton person, a great Carlton leader and the success now is due to her. But also we see the leadership of Abbie (McKay) and Mimi (Hill), and that has to be put down and credited to Kerryn."

Speaking on AFL.com.au's AFLW Deadline Day Live show, All-Australian Kate McCarthy said the Peterson call highlighted a "sticking point" with list sizes of just 30 players.

"To be fair to Carlton, list sizes of 30, that is the real sticking point here with his conversation," she said.

"Because if you've only got 30 spots, how many teams do we see yearly that get down to having train-ons that need to play, train-ons to name their team. That is the sticking point.

"That is the piece to the puzzle that needs to change for there to be allowances for people on maternity leave or coming back from giving birth to still have a list spot because if they're unable to compete, if they're unable to get back on the park in that year, you've still got plenty of coverage from other players when the list spot pushes out a bit."

Naulty said the Blues' recruiting spree was only based in part on the team's fast-tracked improvement, which saw them rise from 14th to one win off the Grand Final.

"A little bit. It's around the opportunity that it provided, to be honest. We were never going to shy away from the fact that if we were going to bring players in, they still had to complement the way we played and the journey we feel we're on," he said.

"We're really humble and understanding that we still have a bit of a gap to chase, so being able to secure the talent was probably the main thing around bringing the players in order to help us take the next step. It was a sum of all parts around speed, ball movement and ability to continue a career, having already had that experience."

The Blues didn't manage to land wantaway (but contracted) All-Australian defender Cambridge McCormick, who will remain at Greater Western Sydney after a deal failed to be struck.

"Today (Wednesday) it really fizzled out. There was a desperate plea from Cambridge to get to Carlton, she's out of contract at the end of [next] year. We really thought we put forward a really strong offer. When you look at the context of the whole Trade Period, it was probably one of the strongest offers across the board to be able to secure her," Naulty said.

"We're a little bit disillusioned as to why we may not have struck up a bit of dialogue, we understand that clubs want to keep good players, but we thought we really did put our very best foot forward, and left nothing off the table to try and secure Cambridge. It wasn't to be this time, but we feel she's a really great player and one to watch for the rest of her career."