Under new senior coach Brendon Bolton, the club finished fourteenth out of eighteen teams in the 2016 AFL season with a 7–15 record.
The club faced a financially challenging schedule, with no matches in the most lucrative Friday night timeslot following poor performances in 2015.
The design was plain white with navy blue side and shoulder panels, trimmings, monogram and number.
[8] In June, Carlton was granted one of four Victorian licences for a team in the AFL's national women's competition, which is planned to be established from the 2017 season.
[10] Marc Murphy retained the role of captain for his fourth season in the role, and Kade Simpson remained vice captain; the rest of the seven-man leadership group comprised Patrick Cripps, Ed Curnow, Bryce Gibbs, Andrew Walker and Sam Docherty.
[11] The club's coaching panel underwent significant changes after the 2015 season, following the dismissal of incumbent Mick Malthouse after Round 8, 2015.
[13] Neil Craig replaced Rob Wiley as director of coaching, development and performance, after having served in a similar role at Essendon.
Following its 2015 wooden spoon and the loss of some senior players to trades and free agency over the offseason, expectations on the club's 2016 performance were low – with some pundits even predicting that Carlton would perform worse than an Essendon team missing twelve of its best twenty-two players due to suspensions for using illicit substances during the 2012 season.
However, the club had the worst record in the league in the second half of the year, winning only one of eleven games; and although it impressed with narrow losses against eventual finalists West Coast, Sydney and Hawthorn, it also unexpectedly lost matches against the bottom two Brisbane Lions and Essendon.