The AFL could suspend Carlton players in the wake of their drunken Christmas break-up.

The Blues have until January 11 to reply to the league's "please explain", which was issued on Christmas Eve.

Once Carlton respond for the AFL's request, the league could issue fines or suspensions.

Carlton have already fined Andrew Walker and Ryan Houlihan for an altercation with Crown staff the night after the mid-December break-up, which included a river cruise.

Also, Eddie Betts was arrested in the Melbourne CBD for drunkenness.

And there have been allegations that new Carlton player Levi Casboult was somehow bound to a team-mate during the cruise as part of a drinking game.

On Christmas Eve, the league issued a statement saying it had "asked the club to provide the AFL with a summary of what Carlton was doing to deal with the situation."

AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson was also quoted as saying: "the AFL is particularly concerned by the most recent claims of a young player being forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol by senior players.

"There has been an extraordinary amount of work done by the AFL, clubs and the AFL Players Association to educate players about responsible drinking and the vast majority of players have heeded that message.

"That's why it is so disappointing to hear of this sort of behaviour (within the playing group of Carlton)."

It has been a terrible few days for Casboult - on Christmas Eve, he was involved in a fatal car crash.

Casboult was unhurt, but the 21-year-old driver of the other car in the head-on accident was killed.

It is understood that Casboult was not to blame for the crash.

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