AFL great Nathan Buckley believes Carlton should continue to overlook young gun Tom de Koning if his form doesn’t warrant a recall – despite rival clubs circling the out-of-contract Blue.

Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon described the 203cm de Koning as “super talented” and a potential “generational talent” that Carlton would want to hold on to moving forward.

But after getting dropped for the clash against West Coast, and later concussed in his VFL return, de Koning is no certainty to return when fit later this month.

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“Carlton’s obligation is to pick the best 22 that they can to win or perform week in, week out,” Buckley said On the Couch.

“Even if you lose the generational talent along the way, if he is that?” Lyon interjected.

“If he isn’t in your best team, you can’t pick him,” Buckley replied.

“You lose selection integrity – you lose the rest of your list.

“They are playing to win. In the end, it might actually be teaching Tom de Koning something.

“If you keep giving the player the whip hand and you don’t hold your players to account to their own performance or to the areas they should be working on to improve, what’s the use of having a coaching group?”

Lyon questioned if the Blues had an “obligation” to keep an eye on the future, given de Koning is out of contract at the end of this season.

He warned opposition clubs would be “preying on the vulnerability” of the 23-year-old given he’s not currently in the Blues’ best 22.

“The list manager would be a little bit hot under the collar. Or he would be having a conversation,” Buckley explained.

“But that’s when it is a leadership group – it’s the general manager of footy, the senior coach whose job is to make this squad as good as it possibly can be, the list manager saying ‘hey, this is the game we are playing on the other side here’.

“You’ve still got to have some selection integrity.”

De Koning has played 46 games for the Blues since making his debut in 2018 and played a key role in the ruck last year when Marc Pittonet was out with a serious knee injury.

“Does Carlton need to have Tom de Koning on their list for the next 10 years to be successful?” Buckley questioned.

“It would help,” Lyon replied.

“Maybe, maybe not … In the meantime the player needs to know that he needs to reach a certain level and be doing his job better than other options to get a game,” Buckley said.

Speaking after the 108-point win over West Coast, Carlton coach Michael Voss said de Koning was aware of areas he needed to improve before earning a recall.

“There’s always an opportunity for that (recall),” he said.

“He’s a very important player to us – he started the season really, really well.

“If he can build his form, then it’s certainly not out of the question that he’d be back in this team, that’s for sure.”