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CARLTON'S second stirring come-from-behind win in as many weeks left Brett Ratten delighted on Sunday, with the coach praising the mental resilience of his playing group after the 30-point win over Collingwood.

“I think when you play the traditional rivals, the arch-enemy, it’s always great to get a win. For us, it was great to see where we are with a young group of players,” Ratten said.

“I thought in that second quarter we could have gone into our shells after squandering some opportunities in that first quarter, (so) to come out and play the way we did and respond was outstanding.”

The result didn’t look likely midway through the third quarter when the Blues were 25 points down, with their defence under siege from repeated Magpie forward thrusts.

But with the side still on top in the key contested ball areas, Ratten implored his charges to stick at it.

“I spoke to the players about ‘this is what we play for’; [we’re in front] of 80,000 people, we’re a chance to make the eight, how much do we want it versus them,” he said.

“I just asked the group for a big lift in that last quarter, because that’s why you play footy; to be challenged against a very good team, [in front of] 80,000 people.

“I think you get to see where you are individually and as a team, and I thought our group was outstanding.”

Carlton took the Kangaroos’ place in the top eight with the win, which Ratten said signaled a redoubling of the team’s efforts rather than any satisfaction at the rise to the top half of the table after years at the wrong end.

“I think it’s fantastic for our supporters and the people who have been around here through some times that haven’t been fantastic, but the hard work starts for us right now,” he said.

“This is where it really starts. We, as a group, need to roll our sleeves up and get really down and dirty and really push through this, because there’s 10 games to go. If we’re good enough, we’ll make the eight, and if we’re not, we won’t.

“We never set any expectation that we were going to play finals football at the start of the year. We knew we had to work on a lot of aspects of our game and we know that the development of younger players can come very quickly … and then we know too that some can take three years.”

Brendan Fevola didn’t have his kicking boots on early in the match, but finished with eight goals to be the key player on the ground.

“To get 14 shots at goal and kick eight goals is an outstanding display,” Ratten said of his full-forward.

“I think Brendan was frustrated early that he couldn’t kick it through the big sticks. He was getting pretty good ball supply and taking great marks, but he couldn’t finish the team’s good work.

“The team aspect of his game has really grown from week to week; right at the end there he was still diving and chasing and tackling. I think Brendan has really matured as a player; he does the things that he does well, but he’s also thinking of all his teammates around him.”