Former Carlton president John Elliott has confirmed stories the Blues almost merged with St Kilda during the mid 1990s, while also saying a merger with North Melbourne in 1999 was only scuppered when the two sides played in the grand final that year.
Speaking on SEN on Wednesday, Elliott was asked about a recent book by St Kilda historian Russell Holmesby that details a little-known attempt by Carlton to merge with St Kilda in 1995.
The Blues, one of the league's biggest players during the 1990s under Elliott, were keen to do a deal after an initial attempt to merge with North failed during the early part of that decade.
And with champion players like Tony Lockett, Nicky Winmar, Stewart Loewe and Robert Harvey lining up for the Saints at the time, Elliott said he was trying to create a football powerhouse.
"North wanted to merge with us and Bob Ansett stymied that," said Elliott, referring to the former Kangaroos president.
"We then went on and talked with St Kilda 'cause we could see that by merging two clubs, you're really going to put yourself in a position where you win a few premierships.
"Anyway the St Kilda one fell away," he added.
"We spent most of the season talking with the St Kilda president (Andrew Plympton), I did, very quietly and It wasn't going to be a takeover, it was going to be a merger.
"It was very similar to what we'd done (with the original North Melbourne plan). We had to play our home games at Princes Park and for away games we'd wear the St Kilda uniform and basically the board was going to be 50-50, half Carlton, half St Kilda.
"It was done very amicably ... and you've got remember back in those days the AFL were offering incentives for mergers.
"Of course the reason we couldn't proceed was that it was probably the best season Carlton's ever had and we finished up winning the premiership.
"Andrew Plympton, he and I got on pretty well. He said, 'look, I just can't get this over the line, they'll all see it as a takeover 'cause you're playing so well, we're not going at all well'.
"So it was very difficult for us."
Elliott said the Blues planned to merge with North Melbourne again late in the decade after the Kangaroos had excelled under Denis Pagan, despite having some of the smallest financial resources in the league.
But instead of Carlton initiating the move, Elliott said it was proposed by former North president Ron Casey, who passed away in 2000.
Casey had previously attempted to broker a merger between North Melbourne and Fitzroy during 1996, only to see that move fall down as the AFL announced on July 4 of that year that the Lions and Brisbane Bears would be coming together as a club from 1997 onwards.
"Ron Casey came to me at the beginning of the year and said, 'we're struggling financially, we ought to re-open and have a look at merging'," said Elliott.
"He said, 'I'm ready to engineer a merger between Carlton and North Melbourne in 99'.
"Again the problem turned out to be that, who played off in the grand final, it was Carlton and North Melbourne.
"So we were stymied again. They would not let that through."