"WE KNOW where we’re at, we know we’ve got more work in front of us."

Carlton will take plenty to learn from a heavy defeat to Hawthorn at the MCG.

With their seven-match winning run coming to an end, the Blues struggled to play to the conditions on Saturday night, feeding the Hawks' offence in the 64-point defeat.

Here's what Interim Coach Josh Fraser had to say.

On how the game played out:

“They adapted to the conditions much better than what we did early. We haven’t been faced with those conditions for a long time, there’s some learning in that for us.

“Their contest method for the most part of the night was quite strong. I didn’t feel like it was an effort thing with us, I thought we lacked a little bit of method at times. Their contest inside to out exposed us too often, there’ll be some good learnings out of that for us.”

On where things fell short:

“I thought our contest method was poor, we put our defence under stress. Behind the ball, we didn’t win enough contests. That was my initial reaction to the way we defended the ground, it didn’t look like the way we’ve been defending. We’ll need to take a dive into that.

“It was clunky, really clunky tonight. Conditions determined that a little bit, but there were times in the game we tried to get a bit more speed in the game to get things going but we had some fundamental breakdowns which fed their game. I felt like we were trying to pull the right levers, we just weren’t able to execute consistently enough.”

On Hawthorn adapting to the conditions quicker than Carlton:

“There’s a bit to be said for teams that have great synergy and have played together for a long time. We’re still a relatively new group with new players. They looked more robust around contest when those conditions set in early, there’s no doubt about that. With the group they’ve got and where they’re at as a club right now in terms of being ready to win, their situational awareness is in front of where ours is.

“That continues to be an area we’ll keep working at, this game gives us great feedback on individuals, on system, on conditions. We’ll take those learnings and be better for it - they certainly looked like a team who had played in conditions like that before and were able to adapt and adjust better than what we did.’

On enduring his first loss as Interim Coach:

“In my coaching journey, I’m not immune to losing. I’ve been in enough situations where I’ve lost coaching my own side.

“We’ve had to learn how to handle winning over the last seven weeks, and I think it’s really important we don’t catastrophise a result. We get back to work. That’s been our process over the last seven games. We certainly haven’t been getting carried away with results, it’s been very process-oriented and on the back of tonight, it’ll be the same.”

On what the Blues will take from the game:

“It’s great feedback for us, it’s great learning for all of us. The game tonight challenged us differently to how it’s challenged us in the past seven weeks. That’s feedback right there. We know where we’re at, we know we’ve got more work in front of us. We’re committed to that work.

“The feedback out of this game will be different to what it’s been to the past seven weeks, but it’s still really important to acknowledge it, confront it and make sure we’re better next time.”

On the early injury prognosis for George Hewett:

“Nothing specific at the moment, other than it didn’t look great for George. We’ll have to wait to get some more feedback on his injury early in the week, I don’t have much more of an update other than he couldn’t take any further part in the game.”

On Flynn Riley’s first game:

“I thought he competed well. He got better as the game went on, this experience for him will be enormous. He’s at the start of his journey. This game will give him feedback, rucking against a seasoned ruck in Meek.

“The speed of the game, albeit the conditions tempered that a little bit, he’ll get feedback there. He had some nice moments. He’s a guy that’ll keep developing and hopefully be a longer term player for us.”

On Adam Cerra’s showing:

“He’s been playing pretty good footy for us, mainly on the wing. With George’s injury tonight, we put him back inside. He’s an experienced player that has capacity to play different roles. I thought he was pretty important for us tonight given the game wasn’t going our way, particularly around stoppage and contest at times.

“He was able to go in there and have his moments for us. He’s grown his game being able to play on the wing, and we’ve also got that lever to pull by having him play inside as well.”

On making a tilt at the top 10:

“We don’t reference where we sit on the ladder, we’re referencing where we’re at and where we need to get better. The process around where we’re at has improved, we’ve got a lot of growth and learning and development to do. It gives you a carrot if you want to look at it that way, but it’s not something we’re driving hard internally.

“Clearly off the back of tonight, we’ve got to get our game in better order consistently against teams that are ready to win now. Next week will bring another opportunity against a team that has played finals consistently over the last three or four years.”