At the midway point of the season, Carlton has notched seven wins - including the scalps of last year’s grand finalists Geelong and St Kilda - and Scotland believes the next two matches against North Melbourne and Fremantle could set up their season and their push towards a top four berth.
“If you go back to the start of the year and you looked after round 11 we would be 7-4, we would be thrilled with that result,” he said.
“In saying that, your focus changes as the games go on and we’re in a good position now to really cement ourselves in the top eight and push for a top four.”
“We have a really good chance in the coming weeks to set our season up.”
The 29-year-old finished the match with 24 disposals in an excellent game across half-back, but Scotland wasn’t taking all the credit, saying the result was due to the evenness of the side’s effort.
“The good thing about our side is that we are getting an even contribution from everyone - it makes a difference when everyone can play their part,” he said.
Like coach Brett Ratten, Scotland was thrilled with the Blues’ opening term, as they kicked seven goals to the Demons two - their best quarter for the season.
“For us we needed to really have a dominant first quarter, really get the game on our terms, get Melbourne to chase us and we could dictate the game there,” he said.
Scotland admitted the weather was a talking point with the players after the match, as the Blues struggled to initially adapt to the wet and greasy conditions in the second half.
The Demons fought back from a 45-point deficit early in the third quarter to be within 19 points at the final change, but Carlton steadied in the final quarter, kicking four goals while holding Melbourne to just a solitary goal.
“We really had a focus at three-quarter time to just get the ball forward, make sure our big blokes make a contest in the forward line and get it down to our dangerous forwards who could really do a lot of damage,” he said.
“It took us a bit to get used to with the heavy ball and we just had to get back to playing no nonsense footy - we did it in the last quarter and it paid dividends.”
