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CARLTON defender Jarrad Waite says the Blues have not succumbed to the pressure of early season expectations following back-to-back defeats to the Bombers and Swans.

Saturday’s 17-point loss to the Swans in Sydney followed the narrow four-point defeat by Essendon the previous week in Melbourne.

But Waite says the Blues’ form dip is not about the pressure of heightened expectations following a thumping opening round win over the Tigers and a spirited victory against the Lions in round two.

“We like to put pressure on ourselves if we want to become a finals contender. We’re a young team but we felt confident in our own ability,” Waite said.

“We’ll bounce back and have a good week on the training track and get ready for the Dogs next week. We’ve just got to tweak a couple of things and then we should be really going.”

Saturday’s defeat in the harbour city, while not catastrophic, was down to decision making and poor goalkicking, according to the Blues defender.

“Not taking those goal opportunities hurts you. It’s obviously something we really need to work on. We were 3.12 at halftime, ending up with 13 behinds. It’s very disappointing.”

Carlton was kept scoreless in the second quarter and Waite admits it was a hammer-blow to the side's chances of pegging back the home side.

“In the last quarter we were chasing it and that’s very hard against a team like Sydney who are so good at the stoppages.”

Waite was the Blues best performer on Saturday, particularly in that first quarter when the exciting defender exploited space to provide run from the backline for the Blues. He ended the contest with 31 disposals and nine rebound 50s.

But Waite does expect to join his teammates in some extra goalkicking practice during the week.

Brett Ratten made an, apparently, tongue-in-cheek remark about the need for his players to line up the big sticks each day at practice, but Waite does believe the coach was just making fun.

“I don’t think he’s joking,” Waite said.