Having restored their self-confidence, Carlton must stick to their own game plan when they play AFL premiers Geelong on Monday at the MCG.

Assistant coach Mark Riley said it is vital that the Blues are prepared to take on the Cats and not be overawed by them.

"If you're not cracking in and hard over the ball and prepared to tackle them when they handball it 200 times and get in their face, you just get pasted," Riley said.

"If you don't bring that to the table, you still might not be a chance, but I tell you, if you don't bring it, you may as well not come.

"We can't spend all our life also concerning ourselves with how good Geelong are, otherwise you convince yourself the task is impossible.

"We have to concentrate on our own game - it's round five ... we're still developing our own game.

Coming off a poor loss to Essendon, Carlton thumped Adelaide last Saturday at AAMI stadium to leave them with two wins from four games.

Riley said apart from the Essendon match, the Blues had generally been sound in the first month of the season.

"It probably restored belief, given how poor we were the week before," he said of the Adelaide win.

"When you're that poor, a bit of self-doubt creeps in with everyone and just to play a much more contest-orientated brand, crack in a lot harder, tackle a lot harder ... we were a lot more physical and aggressive than we were the Saturday night before."

Riley notes that Carlton are still developing, with a re-cast forward line post-Brendan Fevola and an emerging defence.

"We have to move the ball quickly, we have to take our chances and we have to take risks as well," he said.

"It's a very important fixture for us, not just in the context of four points."

Carlton and Geelong made one change apiece, with Blues midfielder Brock McLean coming in for Mitch Robinson and Simon Hogan replacing Mitchell Brown (soreness).

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