The genesis of Carlton's resurgence could be traced back to the last time the Blues met AFL arch-rival Essendon in round three, says assistant coach Mark Riley.

On the back of an eight-goal haul from spearhead Brendan Fevola, the Blues kicked 21 goals but still lost to the Bombers by 16 points in a shootout at the MCG.

Also, Carlton captain Chris Judd picked up 32 touches, nine clearances and two goals, Nick Stevens had 26 possessions and pumped the ball inside 50 metres 10 times, Eddie Betts and Marc Murphy produced strong games and Matthew Kreuzer had an impressive debut.

Riley described that result as "embarrassing" considering the dominance of several of the team's key players, but revealed it was a "watershed day" in the regime of coach Brett Ratten, in his first full season.

Riley said Carlton had changed their game plan following the Essendon loss, with an emphasis on being more defensive.

Measures adopted included dropping numbers back to help an inexperienced backline and the introduction of tempo football - an annoying tactic for fans but one which stops the momentum of rival sides.

"We'd like to think we've changed the way we played," Riley said.

"We thought it was a watershed day for our club (against Essendon).

"To kick 134 points and to get beaten by three goals was quite embarrassing actually and that's no disrespect to Essendon because they were very, very good.

"So from that day I think we're down to (conceding) about 90 points a game against and we've always been a great believer in that points against and team defence is a real key criteria in successful football teams.

"We think that we are getting the correct mix now between defence and attack in our brand of footy that we're playing."

The changes have seemingly worked, as the Blues have won six of their past nine games to jump into the eight for just the fifth time in seven seasons.

Riley said he would be interested to see how the team would handle their current position, claiming there was a psychological difference with teams coming from behind the pack and those already established.

Carlton replaced young ruckman Shaun Hampson with small utility Steven Browne, while Essendon regained speedster Andrew Lovett from illness.

Riley was keen to shrug off predictions of a finals berth, but believed the Blues' faithful had every right to celebrate the club's current good fortunes.

"I've only been here for five minutes but I think it is very exciting," said Riley, in his first season at the Blues.

"The club has been obviously suppressed and performances have been quite moderate over the last five years and for a club that's won 16 premierships and used to being up around the top, you've got to enjoy the moment.

"We still know internally we got a fair way to go but that's exciting."

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