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CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says he always believed the Blues had the character to fight back from a poor start against Fremantle to secure an impressive 15-point victory at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

Fremantle got the jump on the highly-fancied Carlton line-up, kicking six goals to one to race to a 28-point lead by the first break.

But Carlton – inspired by another brilliant performance form skipper Chris Judd – worked its way back into the game and finally hit the lead midway through the final quarter.

Ratten said he never thought the Blues were out of the game despite playing some poor football in the opening half.

“We couldn’t get our hands on the footy and we made numerous mistakes,” Ratten said.

“We were undisciplined (and) I think it just made our task even harder on the day. I think we gave away four 50-metre penalties.

“They just had the ball on a string, especially early. They just dominated, and it took us a while to really find our feet in that area (to win) contested footy and get a few first possessions.

“When we did, I think the momentum started to swing our way.”

Ratten said the simple message to his players was to persist and keep working for each other.

“It was tough, because we made a lot of skill errors in that first half,” he said.

“We were in the game, but we just made so many skill errors. By the third (quarter), we thought that it’s not too bad, let’s keep going away (at it).

“Setanta (O’hAilpin) was playing well and a few of our blokes, Judd and (Andrew) Carrazzo, started really hunting the footy and got to work.

“I suppose you just look at the character of some of your players, and you put it on to the (Marc) Murphy and (Bryce) Gibbs and Judd types just to find a leg.

“(Jordan) Russell’s been important today for us too. I thought for a young man, he gave us a lot of energy early in the game and still late in the game.”

Ratten reserved special praise for Judd, who dominated the midfield with 35 possessions and nine tackles.

“I think he had a few key tackles at certain points and (helped) turn the footy over,” he said.

“He’s a great player of the competition; he’s the skipper of the team. He’s the one who takes it even a step further and leads by example.”

The victory moves Carlton back into the top eight, but Ratten would not be tempted by talk of a potential finals appearance.

“We’ll play Richmond next week, so Richmond’s our focus,” he said.

“We don’t want to be looking at eight weeks’ time. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve got to get next week right to make sure we’re ready to go.”

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