Mick Malthouse says there is a pervading air of optimism at Carlton that the Blues can rise up the ladder in 2015.
After finishing sixth in Malthouse's first year as Blues coach in 2012, Carlton fell to 13th last year after managing just seven wins and a draw.
Malthouse said there were a number of reasons for the Blues' positive outlook, chief among them the vast improvement in the health of their list this pre-season compared to last summer.
Chris Judd, Marc Murphy, Lachie Henderson, Matthew Kreuzer and Andrew Carrazzo were among a host of Blues who had injury-interrupted 2014 pre-seasons, but the Blues now have about 38 players in full training.
"I'm not going to put a position on it, but I do know that – and I've said this for 20-odd years – we'll get the best out of ourselves," Malthouse said at the Blues' Mt Buller training camp.
"Where that takes us we really don't know. I haven't got a crystal ball, but there's an air of optimism.
"This time last year you had to sort of squeeze every positive out of somewhere. It was dangerous because we just didn't have the players out on the training track.
"Now, we say, well we've got three rucks training for that one ruck position, we've got key forwards, five or six of them, training for two or three positions.
"So there's a lot of healthy competition. Healthy competition creates an environment where you get the best out of one another."
Malthouse also said the Blues' targeted positional recruiting at the end of last year and the team's greater understanding of his game-plan had added to the air of confidence ahead of the upcoming season.
The Blues coach also said the club's leadership group led by captain Marc Murphy was striving to create an elite culture where discipline and professionalism were respected.
Senior Coach Mick Malthouse chats to High Performance Manager David Buttifant at the summit of Mt Buller. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)
"We want things in place that represent discipline and we want things in place that are driven by the leadership group," Malthouse said.
"I think one of the things I have really stressed here is don't take the mickey out of people who are doing well.
"It's too often I've seen in many sports where if someone is elevated they tend to be stripped back a bit. We want whoever is elevated to be respected and admired because of their work ethic.
"We have a trainer of the week and that is selected by the playing group and the match committee and he wears a certain garment and we want him to wear that with pride and be respected, and we want other players to want to achieve that and that's what we are finding at the moment.
"There is a real sense of professionalism, people trying to get a little bit more out of themselves, not at the expense of teamsmanship, but including that team-first attitude.
"So it's a great place to be involved in, it’s a real joy to be able to see development and growth."
On Wednesday morning, the Blues' players and coaches completed a walk to Mt Buller's summit, 1800m above sea level.
The Blues' training camp continues until Saturday, with a four-hour hike set down for Thursday.
