Rd 7 Photo Gallery: Click Here

CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has denied his team relies too heavily on full-forward Brendan Fevola, after the spearhead kicked just one goal in Saturday night’s seven-point loss to Fremantle on the Gold Coast.

Ratten was quick to point the finger at his team for over-using the ball in the 13.10 (88) to 11.15 (81) loss.

Fevola went off for five minutes early in the contest with a tight buttock, and returned to kick just one goal and have little impact on the match.

But Ratten said his team’s success wasn’t determined by the output of the star forward.

“He kicked three goals against the Bulldogs and we won, he kicked two goals against Richmond and we won, and he kicked eight goals last week and we lost,” Ratten said.

“Today we had more shots than the opposition and we lose; had 59 inside 50s to 46, and we lose. There’s a fair bit of supply going in there; maybe it’s the way we go about it (that) we need to change a bit.”

Carlton had 397 possessions to Fremantle’s 333, and with three more scoring shots, had more than enough ball to win the match.

Ratten said the Blues simply over-used the handball, particularly in the second term when Fremantle banged on seven goals to five.

“If you look at the second half, we kicked 3.11, so that really hurt us across the board,” he said.

“We made a run at them, but I think we overused the ball dramatically by handball in the second quarter. We spoke about that. In the last quarter it was 51 handballs to 53 kicks, but it is still overplaying the footy in these conditions when the ball is like a soap.”

Ratten said the loss, which left Carlton struggling at 3-4 after seven rounds, showed the Blues had not “matured” yet.

He paid tribute to Matthew Kreuzer, who battled valiantly in the ruck against Aaron Sandilands, and livewire Dennis Armfield, who showed glimpses of class when bursting forward.

Paul Hasleby’s 20-possession first half was crucial to Fremantle’s win, he said.

“It doesn’t matter where you play and who you play if you need to take the next step as a team - you need to win these games, and we didn’t do that,” Ratten said.

“Whether we thought it was just going to happen for us, as a coaching group we knew Fremantle would be fired up ... and knew we’d have a dog fight. We got that, and lost another close game.”