CARLTON coach Brett Ratten said his side was relaxed and confident as they prepared to train at the Gabba on the eve of their elimination final against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.

The team arrived in Brisbane early on Thursday afternoon to give the players a chance to relax without the pressure of too many team meetings and last minute travel.

“We’ve tried to keep it as close to a home and away game as possible with the build up,” Ratten said.

Ratten said his brigade of young stars including Matthew Kreuzer, Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy were handling the pressure as well as anyone because they are used to being in the spotlight.

“They’ve been high draft picks, No.1 draft picks so they’ve had a lot of attention around them,” Ratten said.

“Finals are probably a little bit similar, there is a lot of extra attention and they’ve always had that so I don’t think it will faze them at all.”

Carlton enjoys coming to the Gabba, with narrow six point wins in their last two outings there.

But the Lions have never lost a final at the Gabba and Ratten says Carlton’s previous good record will count for little.

“Finals are different,” Ratten said. “It’s a new ball game and it will be on for young and old.”

Ratten told his players to forget about last weekend’s 72-point thrashing at the hands of Adelaide, saying they learnt a valuable lesson from a quality side.

“We need to put that one away,” Ratten said.

“That’s the best team that we’ve faced this year the way that they demolished us, even from the point of view of giving us a head start and then really fixing us up.”

Ratten has urged Carlton fans to get along to the elimination final on Saturday night, saying the Blues have a strong following in Queensland.

“It might be a fair drive for Carlton supporters but if there’s any Queenslanders that are around Brisbane who want to come and watch the Blues it would be great for our boys to hear that support,” Ratten said.

“You live for these moments to play finals.”