Carlton Captain Marc Murphy hasn't given up on playing finals football this year, despite a disappointing 41-point loss to Collingwood.
The result leaves the Blues two games outside of the top eight, with just eight rounds of the season remaining.
While the club has plenty of ground to make up if it is to feature in September, Murphy is optimistic.
"There's still eight games of footy left," Murphy said on Saturday.
"A lot can happen in eight weeks. We've just got to worry about responding against St Kilda next week."
That task hasn't been made easier with a knee injury to key forward Jarrad Waite, who Murphy says will have scans over the 'next 24 hours'.
"I had a chat to Jarrad while I was on the bench last night, and obviously he was pretty disappointed, but we've just got to wait and see what the scans show," Murphy said.
"Hopefully for Jarrad and the club it's not too bad, and we can get him out there soon."
After shooting out to a 28-point lead in the first quarter, the Blues were completely outplayed by the Magpies, in a performance Murphy labeled 'extremely disappointing'.
A half-time bake from coach Mick Malthouse was not enough to stop Collingwood's rampage.
"It was well deserved," Murphy said.
"We were playing pretty average and Mick put it back on us to respond, and even then, we probably didn't respond well enough."