Photo Gallery: Rd 7 2010 v St Kilda
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BY torching St Kilda at its fortress under the roof and burning off Geelong on its premiership stage, Carlton has achieved the unthinkable this season.

But a niggling little thought remains in the back of coach Brett Ratten’s mind - and that is the loss to Collingwood.

Ratten had every right to be pleased with himself and his team after serving up St Kilda’s biggest loss in a season and a half on Monday night at Etihad Stadium.

And the 61-point thrashing of last year’s grand finalist followed an equally impressive performance a fortnight ago when the Blues made reigning premier Geelong look slow and cruised to a six-goal win.

Ratten modestly called those wins “confidence boosters”.

However, sandwiched between the “confidence boosters” was a 47-point loss to the Magpies.

"The middle game (against Collingwood) is the reality check,” Ratten said.
 
“When we switch on and come with a great approach to the game we get a good result. When we're just off a bit, we can fall away.
 
"In the Collingwood game we carried around six players. This week if you look around, nearly every bloke played his part."
 
Ratten was playing the ultimate dead bat after passing one of football’s toughest assignments with flying colours.

But he was certainly not being restrained in his praise for Andrew Carrazzo, who blanketed St Kilda ace Nick Dal Santo and kept him to just 12 touches.
 
“(Carrazzo) can get the ball 40 times in an AFL game and he has. To sacrifice his ball-winning ability to do something for the team was really important," Ratten said.
 
The Blues face a tough task this weekend when they travel to AAMI stadium to take on the in-form Port Adelaide but following that game, they do not leave Melbourne until round 17.

In that period, they take on West Coast, North Melbourne, Fremantle, the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium; games that will be tough but games the Blues now know they can win.