CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton remains adamant the club will stick by its long-term strategic plan.

The Blues fell to a ninth loss in 10 games on Sunday, falling narrowly short of the Saints at Marvel Stadium.

The Carlton coach revealed after the match that he has addressed the pressures of the team's situation with his playing group, acknowledging its impact on the younger players.

However, hereiterated his steadfast belief that the club's rebuild remains on track.

"We have (addressed it) from time to time," Bolton said.

"If we think it's causing an issue internally and taking you off course, you would address it.

"But you can see very clearly, us as a club, we've got a strategic plan. Players understand that as well. We're unified in that and we're working really hard.

"We, as a club, are not being dictated to by the outside. We've got our plan. The board, (president) Mark LoGiudice, myself, (CEO) Cain Liddle, (list manager) Stephen Silvagni, (football boss) Brad Lloyd, the playing group … they're all across it.

"We've got this plan that we're sticking to and we're unified on it.

"It doesn’t mean we're not annoyed and frustrated that we haven't got results. We're driving high standards, but we can't be taken off course and we're not going to be."

After a two-win season last year, Bolton heaped the pressure on the club's fourth-year players – including first-round draft picks Jacob Weitering, Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow and David Cuningham – to lead the team's rise up the ladder in season 2019.

However, with a 1-9 record so far, the Blues have entered a crucial period of their rebuild.

"We know exactly where we are," Bolton said.

"We know what the profile of the list is with age and games played. We're under no illusions as to where we are.

"Everything is crucial. Every game we rock up to, we want strong accountability around. No game is more crucial than any other."

Bolton insisted his sole focus remains on turning around the club's dismal run of recent form.

"I acknowledge the pressure in this industry," Bolton said.

"But my job is to acknowledge it, not take the easy option, front up and do my job.

"I work on the parts of the game that need to be improved. We overused it under pressure today and we needed to connect better centre forward.

"My energy will go into that. It will go into looking after each other, the staff and the players. We're in this together, but we don't hide away and we haven't hidden away.

"We've been really transparent this week on that and I'll do the same."