SETTING the standard.

Liam Jones said the Blues aren’t getting caught up in any media hype after what he described as the team’s best performance of the year.

It was a clear four-quarter showing from Carlton against the Western Bulldogs, leading from siren to siren in the 52-point triumph.

Highlighting a number of contributors on the night, Jones said it was the group’s most complete showing to date — and it set the benchmark for the weeks to come.

“It definitely does [set the standard]: the Bulldogs are such a great team and are in really good form,” Jones said.

“It showed the depth we’ve got… I could name so many players. If everyone does their job and everyone brings great energy and pressure, we’re really excited by what we can do.”

While Carlton’s trio of attacking talls received the plaudits on Sunday night, Jones and defensive partner Jacob Weitering were just as important at the other end.

Coming up against Josh Bruce and Josh Schache, the Navy Blue wall kept the two Bulldogs scoreless with just eight disposals between them.

“There were so many guys that just played their role at certain times throughout the night,” he said.

“I don’t think you could’ve named a bad player last night: it was such a good, collective performance.”

While the Blues entered the top eight for the first time in Jones’ time at the Club, the key defender - who’s in the leadership group this year - said it wasn’t even mentioned post-match.

He said the team would continue to follow a common mantra this year: control what can be controlled.

“To be honest, there was no mention of it: I didn’t know until this morning that we were in the eight,” he said.

“The thing we’re focused on is a cliche, but it’s game by game. We’ve been in every game this year that we’ve been in, but little lapses have seen us fall away in a couple.

“We want to bring consistency and improvement every week and we’ve seen that if we bring our best, we can compete with any team.”