CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says the lingering pain from their finals losses in the past two seasons drove his players to thrash Essendon in Sunday's elimination final at the MCG.

The Blues, who suffered heartbreaking defeats at the hands of the Brisbane Lions in 2009 and the Sydney Swans last year, thrashed the Bombers by 62 points.

It was Carlton's first victory in a final since it beat Adelaide in 2001.

"It's mixed emotions," Ratten said. "There's relief, and I'm also very excited about what I saw today.

"Sometimes you have to taste disappointment to realise how far and how deep you have to push to get success.

"Our club's been through that: '93 we lost a grand final, '94 went out in straight sets, and then in '95 we had some real joy.

"But sometimes you've got to taste defeat to know how much it really hurts, and I think in the last couple of years that really helped our playing group."

Given their previous failures, and the fact that Ratten is in the final year of his contract with the club, the Blues were under immense pressure to beat the Bombers.

"We didn't shy [away] from it, but we didn't overplay it," Ratten said. "We didn't say it's make-or-break if we lose this final.

"We thought if we could get over the first final it would relieve a bit of pressure from the group.

"Now the boys can play with some real freedom and that will allow them to play more on instinct and go for it."

The only injury concern for Carlton was a shoulder injury sustained by star midfielder Bryce Gibbs during the final quarter.

"Hopefully he gets up [for next week's clash against the Eagles at Patersons Stadium]," Ratten said.

The Blues started nervously, booting five behinds in the first six minutes of the game.

Ratten acknowledged he was frustrated by the early wastefulness, especially when the Bombers responded by kicking three goals and grabbing a 15-point lead.

"Football's about momentum, and if you have your block of momentum, do you make the most of it?" he said.

"Knowing the game takes a bit of time to settle down … I thought we'd steady. We did, which was great."

Ratten was particularly delighted with the performance of Bret Thornton.

The defender, who was set to leave Carlton last year, lined-up in attack and took 11 marks and kicked two goals.

"Today, I thought, was one of his best performances for the club for a long time," Ratten said.

"He did it in a final, and he took five or six contests marks in an area of the ground that has probably fluctuated a bit for us, so I thought he did a magnificent job."

Ratten admitted he and his fellow coaches had begun preparing for next Saturday's game against the Eagles when their team established a 10-goal buffer over the Bombers.

"Probably about 20 minutes into the third quarter we started to really sit down and think [about it]," he said.

"We thought Essendon might come out and play some really bold football after half-time, knowing what they did to Port Adelaide [in round 23].

"We thought we had to really just lock them down and make sure they couldn't score.

"Then when we got to the 20-minute mark we started to think: 'Who should we take off? How can we rest players? Do we push them into the forward line?'

"They were the things that started going through our heads."

Key defender Michael Jamison was among the players given a rest during the final term.

But Ratten shrugged off talk that Jamison is still being troubled by the knee injury that sidelined him for a month earlier in the season.

"It's amazing the [number of] people telling me Jamo's not playing. I don't know who they talk to, but he was never out of the team.

"To give him a rest was just great. It's a six-day turnaround and we keep him nice and fresh."

Ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, who missed the win over Essendon due to a foot injury, is expected to be fit for Carlton's clash with the Eagles.

"If everything goes to plan, hopefully he's getting on a plane and he's playing over in the west next week," Ratten said.

The Blues have not lost a game outside Victoria this season, and they have won four of their past five matches at Patersons Stadium.