WITH the second blockbuster meeting of the year just days away, Carlton midfielder Bryce Gibbs believes the Blues are a better team than the one defeated by Collingwood in round three.

Michael Jamison, Jarrad Waite, Shaun Hampson and Andrew Carrazzo were part of that Carlton team defeated by 28 points at the MCG, but will all be absent when the players run out in front of a sell-out crowd at the 'G on Saturday afternoon.

Gibbs acknowledged the importance of those players, but with 12 games - eight of them wins - under their belt since they last clashed, he maintained the Blues are a more complete unit now.
 
"It was early in the year and we were still trying to tinker with some game plan stuff," Gibbs said from Visy Park on Wednesday.

"It's getting to the stage of the year now where we've really got a strong belief in our game plan and what we're doing.

"We're really rehearsing for the finals now. Playing Collingwood this week … there's no better team to test your skills against."

Two of the team's four losses this season have come in the past three weeks, leaving all but the most ardent fan bullish on Carlton's chances of upsetting the reigning premiers.

Gibbs said his teammates are unfazed by the underdog tag.

"We've got nothing to lose," he said.

"They're such a great side and are setting the bar so high … I don't think many have tipped us to win this week and we're fine with that.

"I think that the competition's very even, anyone can win on the day. We'll be giving them everything we've got and trying to take them on.

"We're not out there to lose, I'll tell you that much."

Gibbs pointed to the team's good record of bouncing back strongly from losses this season - the Blues are yet to record successive losses in 2011 - as reason for optimism.

The round three clash was a test ultimately failed by Brett Ratten's men, but Gibbs said it had proved a useful learning tool.

"I think we played some really good footy in that game," he said.

"We matched it with them for three and a half quarters, it was just that patch in the second quarter where they kicked about four goals, and then we couldn't seem to bridge that gap.

"We'll take some stuff we used on them last time and hopefully not switch off.

"We definitely believe we're good enough. There's no doubt about that. We've played some good footy … it's just putting four quarters together."

Saturday's match is a Carlton home fixture with the teams playing for the Richard Pratt Cup, named in honour of the former club president who died of prostate cancer in 2009.

The Blues, in conjunction with the Victorian Government and the Richard Pratt Foundation, launched the Richard Pratt Fellowships in Prostate Cancer Research on Wednesday.