WE’VE won two games on the trot since I last wrote for carltonfc.com.au and it’s been a pretty amazing transformation to be honest.

We’ve gone from a team on a long losing streak to one looking to even the win-loss ledger and move into the top eight.

There was a fair bit of pressure going into the Collingwood game because we’d had our chances against both Richmond and Essendon but didn’t take them.

We didn’t really talk about the fact that a loss to the Magpies would have meant we would hold the record for the most losses in a row in the club’s history, but everyone sort of knew that it was there.

Collingwood is always a big game which offers our guys a chance to step up on a big stage and it was just important for us to play in front of a big crowd and show what we’re capable of. The record didn’t really factor into it at all in terms of the preparation at least.

I must admit, though, there was a bit of relief after the match. I know Ratts felt a bit of weight lift off his shoulders after getting his first win and to get it against Collingwood made it extra special.

It was pretty much a different game from the others we’d played to that point; we were in front most of the day which was good and they never really looked like catching us at any stage.

It was a good game for us in terms of getting our confidence back to where it should be.

Playing against Melbourne was a lot different because they flooded back and tried to stop us from attacking which was a bit of a compliment for us I think.

To play a good game against Collingwood and then let our guard down and lose against Melbourne would have seen us back to square one, so we put a huge emphasis on maintaining our focus going into that match.

The Demons have obviously had a really tough start to the year and we wanted to make sure that we snuffed out any hope early which would hopefully see a few of their heads drop and give them a feeling like:‘oh no, it’s happening again’.

They would have been as desperate as we were the week before to get a win on the board, so we knew they would come out firing. We knew we couldn’t get ahead of ourselves; we’d won one game and that doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep doing all the hard, team things.

They were two contrasting matches and to come out on top in both was important.

Having two wins in a row has been great because it obviously hasn’t happened too much for us in the last few years.

It gives everyone a lot of confidence and a sense of belief going into this week’s game against Adelaide at the MCG.

The Crows are an interesting side because they’re trying a lot of younger guys like Bernie Vince, Richard Douglas and David Mackay, but they seem to be maintaining the good form they’ve had in recent seasons.

We’ve got a lot of good young guys coming through as well, but I think the key for us will just be to try and stop their running game. They get back in numbers and run the ball really well through the corridor which will be a lot different game for us than the Melbourne match.

That match had a pretty slow tempo at times, but against the Crows if you make a mistake they’ll hurt you real quick.

I think it will require us to play more like we did against Collingwood; being able to maintain possession and not make a mistake which allows them to counter-attack.

It will be a huge challenge, but is one I think we’re up for.