Coach Brett Ratten says the pain of letting a golden opportunity slip away will be a driving force for Carlton next AFL season.

The Blues seemingly had their elimination final against Brisbane seemingly wrapped up when they pushed to a five-goal lead early in the last quarter at the Gabba on Saturday night.

But, led by key forwards Daniel Bradshaw and Jonathan Brown, the Lions kicked six goals in 16 minutes to snatch an amazing 16.15 (111) to 15.14 (104) victory.

Even before Carlton's Cameron Cloke kicked the opening goal of the last term, the Lions had needed to produce the biggest last-quarter comeback in a final in 58 years.

"You could say, did we squander the season? We missed an opportunity and as a football club we've been screaming out to get these opportunities, back into the finals and we let this one go," Ratten said.

While the Blues were shattered to have their first finals series in eight years end in such stunning fashion, Ratten said the experience would not go to waste.

"To play and to have the emotion of a final, I think it's really important for our group to take that in," Ratten said.

"Also the experience of losing and how bitter it feels.

"I spoke to the group about because we played finals, do we think our work's done?

"We ticked a box of where we wanted to be as a club and as a team but that's a stepping stone for us."

He is confident the Blues can take the next step.

Many of their key players, notably Matthew Kreuzer, Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy, are still in their AFL infancy and the club has no-one at retirement age.

Crucially, key defenders Jarrad Waite, Michael Jamison and Mark Austin will all be back from injury next season.

They were sorely missed on Saturday night, Ratten noting backmen Bret Thornton and Paul Bower played "out of their weight division" against Brown and Bradshaw, who booted nine goals between them, including four in the last term.

Superstar skipper Chris Judd, the Blues' best again on Saturday night, will be only 26 at the start of next season.

And Ratten said spearhead Brendan Fevola, 28, was still adding facets to his game, highlighting his defensive work against the Lions.

"Regardless of (kicking) three goals, his chasing effort is probably the best I've ever seen of any power forward in the competition," he said.

Meanwhile, Ratten said he did not see an incident captured by television cameras, in which Judd appeared to poke his finger into the eye of opponent Michael Rischitelli.

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