CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has embraced the heightened external pressure on his team ahead of its coming premiership campaign, declaring nothing less than a top-four finish will do in 2012.

The Blues finished fifth last season after losing to West Coast in a semi-final in Perth and Ratten used the club's family day at Visy Park to turn the pressure up on his players.

"This football club is about expectations. We demand success and we expect success," Ratten told the approximately 7500 fans who converged on the club's headquarters on Sunday.

"With our games experience and from an age point-of-view we're ready to take the next step.

"As we do every year we've raised the bar. Imagine if we had come here and said 'We're going to finish fifth again'? We're not doing that.

"We want to finish in the top four, we want to give ourselves the best chance of having a crack at that last day in September and we'll be striving for that."

Setting such lofty goals before a season has back-fired on clubs before, but Carlton veteran Kade Simpson welcomed the weight of expectation on his club that has been missing for most of his career.

"My first six or seven years we were always down near the bottom and by round 15 the season was pretty much over," Simpson said.

"So it is good [to have that expectation] and also knowing that we've got the players to really compete with sides like Collingwood and Geelong.

"We were just off the mark last year in finishing fifth and if you want to have a crack at the flag you've got to finish in the top four.

"We believe we've got enough improvement and the young guys coming up that can help lift us to that top-four spot."

Simpson looks set to be one of the few seasoned AFL players to make the trip to Adelaide for the Blues' NAB Cup opener against Port Adelaide and the Crows next Sunday.

Ratten hinted youngsters such as recent first-round draft pick Josh Bootsma and father/son selection Dylan Buckley would get some valuable match practice in Adelaide, while the likes of Chris Judd, Jarrad Waite and Michael Jamison would be eased into the season.

Judd, who underwent shoulder surgery in December, is hopeful of playing one or two NAB Cup games, while Jamison is confident of returning from a stress reaction in his back in two to three weeks.