CARLTON interim coach David Teague is confident his Blues will be able to reproduce the same intensity that saw them down the Lions in Round 12. 

In his first match at the helm, Carlton were able to wrestle back a 37-point lead to finish with the four points against Brisbane.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Teague believed that  it was up to the Blues to drive their own motivation when they come up against the Bulldogs at this Saturday’s Carlton Respects game.

It will be the second time that the Blues come up against the Dogs this year, having defeated them back in Round 5 by 44 points.

“To keep their motivation up is something we need to make sure we do because their effort was excellent last week,” Teague said of his Blues.

“I’m not big on motivating them. As a coach I’m actually wanting them to motivate themselves to make sure when they pull on the Carlton football jumper it’s a pretty awesome feeling.”

Carlton supporters saw one of the most complete performances by the team last weekend, when they got their first taste of victory since Round 5 with  the Blues notching their second win of the season over the heavily favoured Lions.

Teague reflected on that winning feeling and how the players intend to harness it once more before the bye next week.

“I want to see the players the same way I saw them last week after the game,” he said.

“The joy they had for each other, the way they looked at each other and seeing them embrace each other – that’s the bit that gets me excited.”

“The taste [of winning] for them is probably really exciting because they haven’t had it, but hopefully it becomes the norm very quickly for this group.”

Carlton will welcome back midfield veteran Marc Murphy, who will play for the first time since breaking his ribs in the Round 9 clash against the GWS Giants.

Murphy replaces a somewhat unlucky Jack Silvagni, who has been showing great signs of progress so far in 2019. The selection headache, however, was something that Teague saw a as a positive rather than a negative indicating a strong competition for spots in the senior team.  

“Having that pressure on selection is exactly what this football club needs and it needs it to grow,” he said.

“We want it to be harder at match committee. We want it to get really hard, because the decisions on form are really good.”