CARLTON VFLW coach Tom Stafford believes there are plenty of positives to take out of last week’s loss ahead of the side’s first home game of the season.

Carlton was outclassed by the reigning grand finalists in Geelong last Saturday: however, the scoreboard didn’t tell the whole story, with much of the game playing out as an arm wrestle as Geelong proved more clinical when moving forwards.

Stafford recognises that the ball use in the forward half will be a key factor for Carlton’s clash with the Saints.

“We’re going to have a look at our forward entries, on the weekend we actually got a lot of footy inside forward 50, particularly the first half,” Stafford said.

“We just couldn’t put scoreboard pressure on and that was a lot to do with our entries going into the forward 50.

“I feel like we rushed and there was a bit of panic ball going in, whereas this week we will be working on composure when entering the forward 50.”

03:09

VFLW R1 | Highlights

All the highlights from the Round 1 VFLW game between Carlton and Geelong.

While there are plenty of areas to improve on, Stafford believes there was a part of the game that the players executed well.

“I thought our tackling pressure was intense on Saturday and I certainly couldn’t fault the players effort,” he said.

“We had more tackles than the opposition, so we’ve really focused on that side with our tackling, and I really think it was there on Saturday which was really pleasing.”

Looking towards the game against St Kilda, Stafford believes that while there will be reflection upon their mistakes, there will be no dramatic changes to the game plan.

“We’ll obviously keep the process we’ve got in place in regard to personnel and we’re going to pick the best side available to play this weekend against the Saints," he said.

"It’s important to know that the result of the weekend was against really strong opposition.

“We don’t want to go panicking at all, we’ve built a really good foundation which we will continue to work into the season.”

00:36

AFLW R6 | Powerful Vescio snap stuns Dockers

Darcy Vescio kicks the first of the game with a superb snap

Coming off what was a difficult week both on and off the field for Carlton, Stafford is sure that Saturday’s game will bring a more positive result.

“It wasn’t ideal preparation for Round 1, but I felt the positivity that the playing group and the coaches showed,” he said.

“To be adaptable was really pleasing and I’m very confident that this week our performance, particularly scoreboard wise, will be better than last weekend.”