CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says a weight has been lifted from his shoulders after his side’s drought-breaking win over Collingwood at the MCG.

The Blues registered their first win since Round 11 last season, with Sunday’s 23-point victory over the Magpies being Ratten’s first since he took charge of the club late last season.

And the former champion Blue admitted it was a nice feeling to hear the Carlton team song ring through the MCG speakers after the match.

“I felt like about 80 kilos just jumped off my back,” Ratten said after the match.

“It’s just good … you always reflect, even as a player, on your first win, and now as a coach for your first win.

“I had to stand in the circle with the blokes who’d won their first game and we sang the song, so the players were getting into me a bit.”

While relieved to have his first win out of the way, Ratten said he was most pleased for the people who have stuck through one of the club’s darkest times – the Carlton faithful and the men who have taken the field each week.

“I feel happy for our supporters and the players,” he said.

“I think the supporters always want a victory and I suppose the expectation early in the year was pretty high. (The year) probably didn’t start the way they would like, and same for the players.

“Under a bit of adversity today, I thought our boys really stuck together and supported each other.”

Collingwood challenged Carlton throughout the match after the Blues kicked clear in the opening term.

But to Carlton’s credit, it never relinquished its early advantage – something that made Ratten extremely proud after his team had succumbed in recent weeks after being in winning positions.

“(Collingwood) had their spurt, and you sit in the coaches’ box and you start thinking ‘Geez, how much time [left]?’” he said.

“But to our boys’ credit, we got our hands back on the footy.

“I’m pretty proud of our players, the way they played today. I thought it was intense footy at AFL standard that’s required week in, week out. I thought our boys … really played fantastic team footy.”

Ratten had special praise for defenders Michael Jamison and Jarrad Waite, who shut down Paul Medhurst and Anthony Rocca respectively, while he said Paul Bower’s job on Travis Cloke was also superb.

“You hope this is the real making of Paul Bower as a player and a defender for us,” he said.