Carlton players will take renewed confidence into their Round 6 clash with West Coast, after notching up their first win of the season with a gallant victory over the Western Bulldogs.

On Sunday night at Etihad Stadium, the Blues looked like a team ruled by more on-field leadership and guidance than in past weeks.

Speaking to 3AW, Blues midfielder Andrew Carrazzo said the entire leadership grew felt a responsibility to step up.

“The lesson we learnt is that although the captain, in (Marc) Murphy, he’s got that title, you look at all the great teams out there that have got really strong leadership, it’s just not one person that bears the grunt,” Carrazzo said.

“We all had to lift – all the leaders we’ve got. We’ve got eight leaders in the leadership group, and it was a thing where all eight leaders had to lift.

“It’s a huge part of the game and if we’re going to start to turn our form around consistently, our leadership is a really important component of that.”

The presence of Lachie Henderson, Jarrad Waite and Levi Casboult up forward delivered Carlton its highest result on the scoreboard so far this season.

Carrazzo said that while no massive changes were made to the team's strategy for the match, having more presence in the forward line encouraged players to move the ball quickly and play on.

“Having the three talls forward of the ball possibly gave us a bit more confidence to play on and have a target to kick to, as opposed to having another resting mid there,” Carrazzo said.

While the Blues triumphed the win did come at a cost, with Chris Judd, Ed Curnow and Tom Bell all suffering injuries. All three will be sidelined for the match against the Eagles, but there are players ready to fill their shoes.

In the VFL, Brock McLean was dominant for the second week in a row as the Northern Blues defeated Footscray by 25 points. McLean gathered 24 disposals and 11 clearances in the win.

In response to his demotion from the senior side, Nick Graham collected 25 possessions and kicked two goals, while Jeff Garlett showed that he is hungry to return to Carlton’s senior team, gathering 14 disposals, kicking two goals and laying six tackles.