CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has lamented a lack of mental application from his players after a rampant Hawthorn defeated the Blues on the back of a devastating first-quarter onslaught at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

Carlton trailed by 54 points at the first break, but despite the poor start, Ratten was pleased with the way the Blues fought out the rest of the contest.

“I didn’t see it [coming] beforehand, but when [they] have the first five clearances of the game and they score four goals, I think, ‘Yeah, we’re not really switched on too much’,” Ratten said from Telstra Dome.

“That was the start of it and they got their tail up and away they went and they were pretty hard to stop.

“We could have fallen over and just let it go and thought, ‘Well, I’ll play my part and get 25 possessions’, but the boys stuck to their task after quarter time and we’re still learning in a lot of aspects but, overall, after quarter time I thought our efforts were pretty good.”

The Blues started very young in defence and remained that way for most of the night, with mixed results, but Ratten was pleased to have given the likes of Paul Bower, Michael Jamison and Mark Austin further exposure at senior level.

“We did say early on that we would try and keep developing our players and putting them in [those] situations,” he said.

“Some of the good things that happen in games, they can be a part of, and sometimes the not-so-good when they have to scrap and fight.”

After trailing by as much as 72 points midway through the second quarter, Carlton clawed its way back into the contest and would have been closer than the three-quarter time margin of 34 points if not for some wastefulness in front of goal.  

“Structurally we just changed a little bit,” Ratten said of the turnaround in fortunes.

“I think it was our forward-line pressure that really made us fight back in the game. I think we got the ball locked in and stopped their counterattack, which was the difference.

“Early on it was just sort of going in and then just waltzing clean out of there, but [later] we got the ball in there for a little bit longer and that gave us the opportunity to score.”

Ratten also singled out youngster Bryce Gibbs for special praise as one of the driving forces behind the Blues’ fightback, with the No.1 draft pick finishing with 23 possessions.

Carlton reported just two injuries from the match: Shaun Hampson with a bruised testicle and Ryan Jackson with a corked thigh.