CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has refused to rule out the Blues' chances of making the final eight despite their 22-point loss to the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

With four games to go, the Blues are two games out of the eight.

The weekend's results leave Essendon (eighth) and Fremantle (ninth) on 11 wins ahead of St Kilda (10th) and Carlton (11th) on nine wins.

"Since the Port Adelaide game [in round 10] our form's been pretty good," Ratten said.

"I still say we're a chance. It's a slim one, but it's still going.

"While we've got a heartbeat we'll make sure we keep pushing on."

The return from injury of key forward Jarrad Waite and midfielder Kade Simpson can only have given Ratten's optimism a nudge.

Waite was a shining light in his return from a back injury that he suffered against St Kilda in round seven.

He had 16 disposals, took eight marks and kicked three goals while giving the Blues a much sharper focus up forward.

Simpson played in a helmet in his return from the fractured jaw that he suffered during a clash with Collingwood's Sharrod Wellingham in round 15.

He had 20 disposals and took six marks after a slow start.

"I thought Jarrad's return was really encouraging," Ratten said.

"It shows how important he is to us.

"It took a while for Simmo to get going ... but his return was really encouraging as well."
 
Ratten said Simpson improved after withstanding a knock early in the second quarter.

The coach said the Blues lost the game because the Swans killed them around the stoppages.

The Swans won the stoppages by 16 (47-33), a margin that reflected the dominance of the Swans' midfield.

The Blues hung in during the first quarter despite giving up two easy goals, the first after a poor attempt to spoil on Swans key forward Lewis Roberts-Thomson and the second after half-back Heath Scotland had given away a 50m penalty.

But it was in the second quarter when the Swans truly took hold of the game, winning the stoppage count by nine (13-4) during a period of dominance in which they looked like running away with the game.

The Blues trailed by 21 points at half-time but to their credit they halted the Swans' momentum enough to limit the final margin to 22 points.

"Their intensity from a team point of view was greater than ours for four quarters," Ratten said.

The Blues coach said the Swans are underrated, but he ranks them alongside Hawthorn as the best teams in the competition.

"Defensively they're very, very good," he said.