CARLTON defender Jeremy Laidler knows how crucial the four points lost against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday may be in the Blues' aspirations for a top-four finish.

Speaking after the Blues gave up a 27-point lead midway through the second term to be overpowered by a revived Bulldogs team, Laidler conceded his side failed to respond to the challenge handed down by Rodney Eade's men.

The loss, coming after a 103-point drubbing of Richmond, handed the initiative to Hawthorn and West Coast in the race for the double-chance in the finals, with the latter just two points shy of fourth place now occupied by Carlton.

"They just came out firing and we didn't react quickly enough," Laider told carltonfc.com.au.

"They outplayed us. They got it out of our forward line too easily and we didn't put enough pressure on them."

Laidler said the team was guilty of not trusting their forwards and overusing the ball with the game in the balance.

The forward line struggled for impact after Jarrad Waite was substituted out with a groin injury, with Andrew Walker also battling after suffering from a bout of food poisoning,

The Blues had 70 more possessions than their opponents, with 199 kicks and 183 handballs reflecting Laidler's view that his side was too handball-conscious against a more efficient Bulldogs outfit.

"We did definitely overuse the football. We should've got the ball into our forwards a lot more. We handballed around the midfield and fooled around with it too much," he said.

Laidler is making an impression on the navy blue faithful after crossing from Geelong at the end of last season.

In the absence of Michael Jamison, it has been left to the likes of Laidler to marshal the backline along with Bret Thornton, Nick Duigan and Lachie Henderson.

The 21-year-old backed Henderson to cover the void left by Jamison's absence for as much as eight weeks deep in defence.

'Jamo is pretty vital to our backline. We do like him down there. Lachie came in last week and did a massive job," he said.

"Whoever is down there we have to play and work together. We'll be all right."

Laidler is confident his side can lift for the blockbuster clash with Collingwood next Saturday afternoon.

"We have to recover really well. We both have a six-day break. We'll just go through the tape and work on where we went wrong, and we will look at their tape and see what we need to do."