THE BATTLE between the star midfield pairings of Chris Judd/Marc Murphy and Dane Swan/Scott Pendlebury formed a big part of the media build-up to Carlton's clash with Collingwood, but Murphy is having none of it.

The 24-year-old says the idea of a dynamic Blues duo - Carlton's own Batman and Robin - defeating foes and leading the team to the finals might sell papers or attract viewers, but it's got nothing to do with the team's stellar early season form.

"I definitely hear that stuff because there is so much commentary on footy these days, but you just can't rely on two blokes to get the job done," Murphy says.

"There are seven or eight blokes who go through there who all play a role. That really helps Juddy or myself when things aren't going quite right, but when you talk about two versus two, it's just not like that.

"It's seven or eight versus seven or eight … all of those blokes need to play a role to be successful. I know it's not as sexy, the media can talk about whatever they want, but we'll just worry about ourselves.

"We're not relying on one or two blokes to do it every week."

Carlton's 60-point win against the Pies saw the Blues installed as premiership favourites, just ahead of Hawthorn.

It's a tag that has proved a burden for some teams in the past, but Murphy remains unfazed.

"I saw that we're flag favourites now, but I'm not too sure about that … I think a few Carlton people might be getting a bit excited and putting a few dollars on," he says.

"We're not getting too caught up in our form at the moment. We've only won three games and a season of AFL football is a marathon. We've just got to maintain our intensity and make sure that our attitude at the footy and at the man is right at its peak for every game.

"[But] it's a lot better being premiership favourites than wooden spoon favourites. I've experienced that in my time and I'm keen not to experience it again."

The Blues were able to snare Murphy with the No.1 pick at the 2005 NAB AFL Draft by virtue of their last-placed finish that year and they followed it up with another wooden spoon in his first season.

The former Oakleigh Charger played in just six wins and 29 losses in his first two years at the club, but he can recall those days a little more fondly now that the Blues have worked themselves into a position to push for premiership success.

"As bad as it was to be losing every week, I was just happy to be doing what I'd grown up wanting to do," he says.

"At the time I was just happy as an 18-year-old to be at an AFL club; getting the chance to play AFL footy was exciting.

"There was a fair bit of negativity about the place, but in the last few years winning games and creating a better team culture just makes going to training every day more enjoyable.

"It's completely different now to what it was when I first turned up at the club. I'm loving it and really enjoying playing with a bunch of good mates and winning games of footy on the big stage."