CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has declared Saturday’s sold out clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium an “eight-point game” for his team.
The Blues kept pace with the top eight last week with an upset win over the Western Bulldogs and a victory over the Crows this week could see the 11-placed Carlton leapfrog Richmond and draw level with Adelaide on 36 points.
Ratten said his team took confidence out of last week’s 65-point turnaround and believed the Blues were further buoyed by the impressive win at AAMI Stadium earlier in the year.
In round 11, Carlton made a mockery of Port Adelaide and slippery conditions to claim a stunning victory after being five goals down at the last change.
“The Port Adelaide game was a kick-start for us. We’d given them a head start, the conditions [were wet] and to come back and win; that was the start of our belief that in any position in any quarter we can come back,” Ratten said on Friday.
“We have had two wins here now, the NAB Cup and Port. I think we will talk about that and that it shouldn’t be a worry playing at AAMI Stadium.
“It has given us two great wins, but they are different teams, its different situation and it’s an eight-point game for us.”
Carlton has played just two games outside of Melbourne in the opening 17 rounds and won both. The other was against West Coast in Perth.
Ratten said the young group had come to terms with playing away from home.
“[This year] We’ve got ourselves off to good starts or allowed ourselves to be in the game and played some reasonable footy,” he said.
“Interstate, if the gap becomes too big, the crowd is against you; everything becomes a huge mountain to climb, but our boys have been within touch and that belief is there.”
The talk in Adelaide has been about how the Crows will shut down Carlton’s stars in Chris Judd, Nick Stevens and Brendan Fevola, but Ratten said he had learned not to underestimate the ever-competitive Adelaide line up.
“I think we revert to the last time we played them and they have quality players pretty well much both ends of the ground with Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards, Simon Goodwin, Scott Thompson … Porplyzia comes back and kicks five,” he said.
