CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says the lack of confidence that has plagued his side for the past month may finally be over, despite a 39-point loss to the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium.

A greatly improved second half - where the Blues outscored the Swans seven goals to six - has given Ratten hope the Blues mid-season malaise may have ended.

By the final siren, it was only a poor first quarter which kept the Blues from mounting a serious challenge, with the Swans running out winners 16.11 (107) to 10.8 (68).

"They got the jump early and it was pretty much all over from there," Ratten said. "We look like a team that has lost confidence.

"From half way, we won the battle. Still, we had to work extremely hard to score our goals and they scored soft goals but I thought from half time we were right in the game."

Ratten conceded that since registering impressive wins over finals favourites Geelong and St Kilda earlier in the year, the Blues have struggled to find zip and consistency.

"Maybe the tide is starting to turn," he said. "We are low in confidence and we haven't got off to good starts in the game.

"At the moment we have probably lost a bit of that dash and flair that we did have.

"How do we change that? Six-day break, going to West Coast, open ground, we'll get our chance, but we need to get the confidence back in the group by getting our hands on the footy a little bit more than what we have in the past couple of weeks."

Besides winning the second half, Ratten also found positives in the performances of Shaun Hampson, who emerged in the final quarter as a leading target, and small forward Jeff Garlett.

Hampson finished with five marks and two goals while Garlett lodged 11 possessions, four tackles and a goal.

Ratten implored Carlton fans to be patient with their developing list.

"Maybe the expectation got higher because of some of those performances and when our younger type players were running over the top of the ground," he said.

"When you look where we have come from, everyone said you won't score, you won't score, where are you going to score from and no one put us in the eight. I think we sit about fifth for scoring in the competition.

"It's an inability to defend a bit at the moment more than actually scoring all the time.

"Our group is growing. Yes we are not playing where we want to be and the way we are playing isn't exactly right. But we've shown when we are on our game we can play some good footy."