CARLTON will enter Sunday's elimination final against Essendon confident of victory despite the round 24 loss to St Kilda, according to Dennis Armfield.

Although the loss to the Saints wasn't ideal leading into a finals series, Armfield says it won't overshadow the good work the Blues have done to finish the home-and-away season in fifth spot.

"Our goal at the start of the year was to get a home final and we've got one, so that's a massive tick," Armfield said.

"We've done a lot of things well and I'm sure that when it comes to the crunch, we'll be able to play that contested brand of football that we like to play.

"It [the elimination final] is a crunch, do-or-die game. We've been wanting a home final for 10 years and we've got that.

"The boys are a bit down about the loss, but we'll get back up and be raring to go for this big game."

Carlton's last two finals campaigns ended in heartbreaking interstate losses to the Brisbane Lions and then the Sydney Swans, but Armfield says the lessons of those games haven't been lost on his team.

"I know personally that those two losses hurt, so we'll be looking to get out on the MCG in front of a packed house and get the job done," he says.

"We've learned from that and it's probably made us that little bit more hungry.

"We'll address anything to do with style and what we did right and what we did wrong out of this game, but we're looking forward to Essendon this week."