CARLTON leaders Patrick Cripps and Jacob Weitering have both reaffirmed their commitment to the club, despite Blues chief executive Graham Wright saying he will hunt more picks at this year's draft.
Cripps is contracted through until 2027 and Weitering is tied down until 2031, but speculation has grown around their futures as Carlton sets itself for another period of transition following the departure of coach Michael Voss on Tuesday.
Carlton will likely welcome a third top-three pick in as many years when father-son Cody Walker joins Jagga Smith and Harry Dean at the club, but Wright declared that the Blues would "like to have more picks in this year's draft".
It followed Carlton president Rob Priestley saying the Blues would "attack the draft again this year", following an off-season in 2025 when the club traded Charlie Curnow to Sydney and lost Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni in free agency.
"We're going to attack the draft," Wright said on Tuesday.
"We've been really open with that over the next two or three years … we've probably started it before now with the last two years. We'll certainly go to the draft again this year, it's the last uncompromised draft before Tasmania comes in.
"We've got two picks in this year's draft, whether we get to keep both of those depending on what happens with Cody. But we'd also like to have more picks in this year's draft. We've got two in next year's as well.
"That will be the way we'll attack it. There's no ceiling on these things. How quickly can you get better? Well, that's on the new coach coming in and the development group coming in with a new regime. We'll go hard at it."
Cripps has been floated as a means for Carlton to potentially attract more top-end picks at this year's draft and said his focus was purely on 2026, rather than his contract year in 2027, following Voss' departure.
"I'm contracted until the end of next year and I'm really committed in terms of this season. I'm not just going to wave the white flag and waste the year, there's a lot of footy to play out this year," Cripps said.
"The privilege to play any game of AFL footy is a massive honour, there are so many people in the world that would love to play and that never gets lost on me. Especially for this footy club.
"I'm going to lead the same way I've been doing it for the last six to eight years, wear the jumper with pride and keep going for it."
Weitering was more adamant around his future at Carlton, saying he had already decided he will see out his contract through until 2031 after foregoing the option of free agency and penning a long-term contract one season in advance.
"Yes (I want to stay long-term), most certainly," Weitering said.
"I made the decision a long time ago that I wanted to be a Carlton player for life. I've got five years left on my contract here and the leaders have got a job to do, we've got to lead this club forward through our actions and words.
"I want to be a part of that, for sure."