Carlton veteran Heath Scotland has spoken of the anguish felt by Blues players in the wake of Brett Ratten's sacking on Thursday.

Ratten was informed on Wednesday that he would not be coaching Carlton next year, just four days after the club's finals hopes were dashed by the shock loss to Gold Coast.

Scotland was among the players to witness Thursday's emotion-charged press conference at Visy Park, where the news was made official, and he admitted there was a sense of responsibility among his teammates.

"It's disappointing for everybody. I believe we're a good side that had a chance to be playing finals, but we've thrown away [that] opportunity and a man's lost his job because of it," Scotland said.

"We haven't sat down and had a formal chat about it, but you speak amongst each other and everyone's feeling like crap.

"It's a horrible situation.

"It was an absolute credit to Ratts with the way he handled himself [on Thursday]. He's carried on as if it hasn't happened and we've got a game to win this week."

Fremantle's big win over North Melbourne the next day would ultimately render the result of the Carlton-Gold Coast game irrelevant, but the finals were still a possibility heading into Saturday night's clash.

Despite the possible reward on offer, the Blues were unable to reproduce anything like the form that saw them win five of seven games to breathe new life into their season.

Scotland is confident no one in the Blues camp took the fledgling Suns lightly, but he remains at a loss to explain the team's lacklustre performance in the "gut-wrenching" 12-point loss.

It wasn't the only reason for the board's decision to end Ratten's five-year tenure, but Scotland realised very quickly it would have far-reaching ramifications.

"I knew as soon as that siren sounded that we'd blown our season, we'd put the coach under pressure, and it was a really, really horrible feeling," he said.

"It was just disastrous.  

"I couldn't have felt any worse post-game and I wasn't the only one - we were all feeling horrible.

"The simple fact is a man has lost his job because of our actions on the field. To carry something like that is horrible. It's not just him, it affects his family as well, so it's not a nice thing to carry around.

"We're playing for ourselves and our supporters as well and you quickly realise what effect a loss like that can have on everybody.

"We'll carry the sting of that loss all off-season until we can do something about it. We've got a game this week and we can maybe fight back a bit, but we can't really do anything genuine about it until next year."

Scotland, who is out of contract at the end of the season, said he hadn't given any thought to his own situation.

The 32-year-old has been one of the few regular contributors for Carlton this year, and has previously stated his desire to continue his career with the club, but all decisions on playing personnel will likely have to wait until a new coach is appointed.