CARLTON coach Brett Ratten believes the Blues' 28-point loss to Collingwood on Friday night is evidence his team has gone at least part of the way to bridging the gap between the sides.

The reigning premier had beaten Port Adelaide and North Melbourne by a combined total of 162 points to start its premiership defence, but Carlton's ability to take it up to the Pies at least gave Ratten cause for optimism when next the arch-rivals meet.

"I think we've taken a step in the right direction," Ratten said.

"I suppose you come to these games and you reflect and say 'Did we earn respect?' and I don't think we lost respect, but I don't know how much we earned either.

"I think we've made inroads in our approach to the game, but still it's a 28-point loss to a very good opposition. There were things to like and things not to like as well.

"We learned some fantastic lessons with the experience that was given to Matthew Watson and Chris Yarran and a few of the younger kids to play on the big stage under the microscope against the best team in the last 12 or 18 months."

Ratten's side impressed early, with his players' eagerness to get at the ball carrier and apply the sort of pressure the Pies have been dishing out to other sides for the past 12 months the feature of an entertaining first quarter.

However, the Blues were unable to maintain that focus for the entire match and Collingwood made them pay with a five-goals-to-one second term that proved pivotal.

Having seen a one-point quarter-time lead turn into a 27-point deficit at the main break, Ratten's men could easily have lost their nerve, but they fought back bravely in the third term only to see their hard work go unrewarded as Jarryd Blair stung them with two late goals.

"I thought we worked extremely hard in the third to maybe make the game a bit tighter going into the last quarter and probably just fell away in that least five or six minutes," Ratten said.

"I think as a group we worked extremely hard in that third quarter. To think you win the quarter by one point, and when we had a few opportunities to really bridge that margin we let a few softer goals through."

After being knocked off balance in the first quarter, the Pies regained their composure and turned the screws on the Blues, who were unable to lock the ball inside their own front half as Collingwood did.

With the midfield groups roughly breaking even, Ratten said two bookend performances for Collingwood had proved critical.

"I thought Blair was probably the difference up one end and Heath Shaw was very good for them at the other end," he said.

"They had two players at either end of the ground who were probably best on ground and second best."