CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton says his side will strongly challenge its regrettable start against Fremantle at Etihad Stadium yesterday.

The Blues were held goalless in the first half against the rampaging Dockers, who added 12 majors of their own to lead 12.5 (77) to 0.7 (7) at the main break.

Bolton's players responded to outscore Fremantle by 13 points in the second half, but the damage had already been done.

“They jumped us and played really well. We’re disappointed with it, we’ll go away as a group and ask some questions around what was in the mindset early," Bolton said post-game.

"Full credit to them (Fremantle), but we’ve got to look at why that happened and ask some questions of each other.”

At half-time, Bolton implored his side to seek opportunities within the contest.

“We spoke about the second half and the opportunity to respond and not give up the fight. This group is thinking a lot on the oval at the moment about defensive action, offence patterns," he said.

“It’s just another opportunity to try and refine it and make it more automated. At the moment, it’s not a habit, they’re still thinking through it – that’s what they had to focus on.”

With Sam Kerridge registering the side’s first goal of the match in the opening minutes of the third term, the Blues responded. An 18-possession quarter to the ever-reliable Kade Simpson, as well as two goals to Matthew Kreuzer, showed the Blues’ fight in the second half.

“It could have got really ugly but to the players’ credit, a bit of strong culture at half-time, they rallied each other,” Bolton said.

Although the Blues fielded a slightly older and more experienced outfit than the opposition, Bolton reiterated the Club’s effort in continuing to be uncompromising in its quest towards achieving a period of sustained success.

“To learn how to play consistently at a high, high level, it just doesn’t happen immediately. It’s a learned behavior. We’re too inconsistent with that at the moment, we’re not happy about it and we’ll work our way through it, but it is a learned behavior," he said.

With the Club midway through its third year of a rebuild, Bolton again explained why the Club’s trajectory would not be linear.

“Each year we’ve dropped the age profile significantly to get young talent in the draft,” he said.

“In essence, this is our youngest year. We’re not using it as an excuse but we’ve been to the draft and we’ve done that (and) it’s been coupled with injury to some key players. Is it difficult and challenging? Yes. But we’re up for the fight and we’ll keep working our way through that.”

The Blues return to the MCG next Sunday to take on arch-rival Collingwood in the annual Peter Mac Cup.