Tony Liberatore shares his belief that Carlton were guilty of deliberately losing matches during his time as an assistant coach at the club.

In a segment on the Nine Network's AFL Footy Show, Liberatore said that winning "wasn't the be all and end all" for the club during the final matches of 2007.

Liberatore, however, did say that there was not any specific directive from Blues executives to lose.

"Nobody ever said we're not going to win today but the feeling in the group was that it was a bit of a laugh."

In response to Liberatore's comments, Carlton emphatically denies any claims that it tanked matches.

"At no stage did we ever, ever talk of losing or throwing games of football. We picked our teams based on giving people experience and we went out every week and we played to win," Carlton CEO Greg Swann said.

Swann added that the club would explore legal options against Liberatore and that an investigation into the claims by the AFL was unnecessary.

"We're pretty peeved about it, we'll have a look at it because a lot of the things that were said were just wrong.

"There's been talk about an investigation, I don't think there's any need for that, but if the AFL wants to send someone down we're happy to talk about it, we've got nothing to hide."

13 Mar 2008 17:27
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