MIDFIELDER Heath Scotland says Carlton will rediscover the formula to its early season success and Subiaco may just be the place to find it.

The Blues travel west next week to take on a revitalised West Coast Eagles and Scotland - fresh from 27 possessions, six marks and a goal against the Swans - said Subiaco's wide open spaces were an ideal setting to jump start their attacking run.

"Definitely, from an offensive point of view," he said.

"However, on a bigger deck if we don't have our defensive running on like we didn't in the first half we will get carved up."

Scotland said Carlton showed signs in the second half that its confidence was returning.

After a disastrous first quarter, where the Swans outscored the hapless Blues six goals to one, Carlton held their nerve, eventually outscoring the Swans by a goal after the main break.

"No doubt about it we started poor," Scotland said. "We were getting beaten at the contested footy, they spread better than us, we used the ball poorly, we weren't damaging with our inside 50s and they converted theirs.

"Probably half way through the second quarter we felt we started to grind away at the game a bit, and get back onto neutral terms.

"If you want to take some positives away from it, the second half it was a better game."

Carlton has now lost four of the past five games, and Scotland said the only remedy to Carlton's mid-season woes was hard work.

"It's a tough one and we are all searching for (confidence)," he said.

"In a situation like this you just have to get back to the basics, get back to training hard and working on our strengths as well as our deficiencies. Nothing beats hard work. We've been chipping away at it. We just have to focus on what we did right in that second half and bring that intensity that's required.

"It's important that we try to remain positive but it's a collective of the whole group. We just have to grit it out."