The Blues will be out to disrupt opposition teams' finals hopes in the remaining three rounds of the 2017 home and away season, according to coach Brendon Bolton.
Carlton faces the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium on Saturday night, who remain in contention for a finals berth.
“I think teams who are in positions like where we are at the moment, they always have a purpose at this time of year of trying to halt oppositions’ runs into finals, so that’s part of our motivation this weekend,” Bolton said.
“We’re always trying to win, and we’re trying to disturb team’s runs into finals, and trying to uphold our value of being really consistent.”
Is another tight battle on the cards tomorrow night? Find out more in the @OntimeGroup Cold Hard Facts. #AFLEaglesBlues #BoundByBlue pic.twitter.com/4Q8Dtq9sYT
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) August 11, 2017
Despite recording their last win in Round 13 against the Gold Coast Suns, Bolton insists the Blues' morale has remained high amongst a young playing group.
“There’s no issue with morale. We have celebrated and acknowledged the areas of growth in their (young players’) game, and they can see clearly in the system where they can improve,” Bolton said.
“If they feel they have focus on what to improve and how, then I think morale stays high."
Speaking to the media at Melbourne Airport on Friday morning, Bolton credited the Blues’ leadership group for their investment into a young playing group, and said there were a number of areas the side had grown in this season.
“Our leaders and their investment in our young guys has made the place a really positive one to be at,” he said.
“There’s lots of signs of growth for us this year. I think our supporters can see that too. We’ve won more quarters this year than we did last year and we’ve been in games right up until the final quarter, but more importantly, we’ve got a lot of games into the youngsters and five Rising Stars nominations so far so we know we’re heading in the right direction.
“We knew it was going to be a bit bumpy, because we’re only in the second year of a reset but we’re really looking forward to attacking this game on Saturday.”