CARLTON skipper Chris Judd says he can’t explain why his team’s season has hit a hurdle over the past month but he is confident the Blues can work their way through their current form slump.

The Western Bulldogs belted Carlton by 68 points on Sunday, relegating Brett Ratten’s team to seventh on the ladder and forcing a team meeting among the Blues at Visy Park on Monday morning.

“We spoke to the players this morning, just had a chat about things,” Judd said from his club’s home base.

“We don’t want to start getting into the blame game where players start moaning and pointing the fingers at everyone else. We know what we need to do, and we know we are capable of doing it, we’ve just got to do it a bit better.”

The Blues have lost to North Melbourne, Fremantle and the Bulldogs over the past month, while they came from behind to eventually thrash the Brisbane Lions but Judd admitted even that performance was scratchy.

Sunday’s performance however, against a team Judd considered a genuine top-four contender, was most concerning.

But the captain, despite acknowledging the Blues aren’t currently capable of matching it with the league’s best, has vowed his team can pick up the pieces and rediscover its best when it meets the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

“We’re not getting too down on ourselves,” he said.

“But the good sides rarely lose by 10 goals, as well. Sure, you’re not going to come out and play your best each week but you shouldn’t get beaten by 10 goals, so that’s disappointing.

“We’ve got some things to learn and we have played some really good footy this year. We’re not going to sulk or start playing the blame game. We’ve got some things to work on ... I think we’ll be much better this Sunday.”

“We’re not getting too down on ourselves,” he said.

“But the good sides rarely lose by 10 goals, as well. Sure, you’re not going to come out and play your best each week but you shouldn’t get beaten by 10 goals, so that’s disappointing.

“We’ve got some things to learn and we have played some really good footy this year. We’re not going to sulk or start playing the blame game. We’ve got some things to work on ... I think we’ll be much better this Sunday.”

Despite his team’s relative youth, Judd admitted the time was coming when the Blues needed to “take that next step”.

However in order to go forward, the champion midfielder said Carlton had plenty to work on following Sunday’s performance.

“We’ll go through the tape [of the Bulldogs match] tomorrow, and that’ll be a pretty unpleasant experience,” he said.

“We’ve just got to be more efficient with the ball, work harder, be a bit more physical over the ball. There’s a host of things that need to get better and I think the group will respond and play better next Sunday.”

One man certain to improve the Blues’ forward structure is Jarrad Waite. The key-position star appears certain to return to the Carlton side after missing his second stint through suspension, and Judd hopes one of his team’s most important players will be back - for good.

“We have missed him,” Judd said.

“It’s been very disappointing for us. He’s one of our really good players, and he’s a tall which are very hard to replace ... it’d be good to get consecutive games into him.

“We’ve been disappointed that he keeps getting reported and he’s been disappointed in himself, so we’ve put some things in place but [we’re] looking forward to having him back next week.”