CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has urged his players to run and be bold as they seek to rebound from a disappointing performance last week by beating Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.

Ratten said the Blues "were like statues" during Sunday's upset 27-point loss to the Western Bulldogs and wants them to take the game on against the top-of-the-ladder Magpies.

"I thought last week we really beat ourselves; we didn't play to our strengths," Ratten said before training at Visy Park on Friday morning.

"We want to see a bit more boldness, even if we make a few blues doing it.

"That's what we didn't do against the Bulldogs; we played really non-risk football.

"We were like statues last weekend and we want to make sure we change that this week and get our running shoes on again."

After their last loss, to the West Coast Eagles in round 14, Carlton responded with a 103-point belting of Richmond the following week.

Ratten said the club had taken a similar approach on this occasion, concentrating on finding its own best game rather than stopping the opposition.

"We haven't gone through everything Collingwood does, because they do so many things so well," the Blues coach said.

"We've focussed on us and how we're going to respond, and that's what we did against Richmond as well, so hopefully we get a similar result."

The Blues, now just two points clear of the Eagles in the coveted top-four slot, have included mature-age rookie Wayde Twomey for his first senior game.

Ratten was confident the recruit from Swan Districts would handle a big-game debut against the competition's leading team in front of 90,000 fans.

"He's one of these players that's played really well in big games at WAFL level," Ratten said.

"He played in the grand final last year and had a great game.

"He's 25, he's experienced, and emotionally he doesn't get fazed with a lot of things.

"I know it's his first game, but he'll really do a great job for us."

Carlton has also selected its first round NAB AFL Draft pick Matthew Watson for his third AFL match, and his first since the Blues last played Collingwood, in round three.

Ratten said despite being known so far in his professional career primarily as a defender, the young key position player would give the team added options at both ends of the ground.

"Watson has played juniors as a forward as well and kicked bags of five and six, so he can go down that end," Ratten said.

"(Lachie) Henderson we know, and (Bret) Thornton's another one that can go (forward) as well.

"So we'll probably play all three down there at times."

Veteran Ryan Houlihan was dropped from the line-up, leaving him stranded on 199 games.

With the Northern Bullants' seniors having a bye this weekend the 29 year-old, who has battled a calf injury this season, will play in the VFL reserves.

"He's played four games now and we just thought he needed a little bit more zip into his game," Ratten said.

"He'll play his 200th. It's not this week, but it won't be that far away."