The Blues have lost their past 14 matches, including nine under the coaching of Ratten, who replaced Denis Pagan late in 2007.
However, speaking at the Peter MacCallum breakfast at Federation Square on Wednesday morning, Ratten said history and records were irrelevant.
“We sort of don’t really focus on the records because as I said last week that involves other people, a different coach and different playing list,” he said.
“We’re only worried about 2008 at the moment, and regardless of whether we were 3-0 or 0-3, to play our young kids and put them out with hopefully 85-90,000 watching is a fantastic experience and another learning lesson for them.”
Carlton came close to ending the streak last Saturday night against Essendon, and looked almost certain at the climax of their nine-goal third team to overrun the Bombers.
The efforts of some star players put the Blues in a position to win, but according to Ratten, it was the lack of effort from others which cost them the chance to grab four points.
“When you reflect on that performance and some of the individuals, I think we would have had close to maybe six of the best six players on the ground, but I think it was the contribution from some of the other players, the other 13 or 14, that let the team down a little bit,” he said.
“I thought Brendan (Fevola’s) performance and Eddie Betts and Juddy’s (Chris Judd) and (Marc) Murphy – (Michael) Jamison on (Matthew) Lloyd was an outstanding performance – I think we had some really positive signs.
“But I think it just reminds me as a coach, and I think all coaches, that you need a team performance.”
Ratten said the outfit which best encapsulated a team ethos was, ironically, the side they are set to face this weekend.
“Look at Collingwood – every week they get 18 contributors and there might be a few that don’t have the best of days but they have a lot of contributors in their team,” he said.
“I think that’s where we’re we need to get to, to make sure that everyone has a say in the game.”
While the Blues put a few goals between themselves and the Bombers before three-quarter time in last weekend’s match, Ratten admits the players aren’t quite sure how to win.
“It’s been brought up during the week that sometimes people reflect on what the negatives are, when you get to 17 or 20 points up and start to think ‘what do we do from here’?” he said.
“I think we need to win again so we can get that belief back and show each other how we did it and why we did it.
“And to have people that have been successful players through Chris (Judd) and Richard Hadley in our team, think they can help out at that moment and say ‘come on boys, focus in and do the job at hand’.”
One positive to emerge from the evening was the form of young ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, who amassed 16 touches and two goals in an impressive debut performance.
While Ratten said he'd already spoken to his young star about maintaining his performance, he also revealed the quietly-spoken Kreuzer had taken a leading role on the field.
“You look at a lot of kids in their first game and they usually have a pretty good first game. The energy is up and away they go,” Ratten said.
“It's second-up that sometimes there's a fall away and that's the challenge for Matthew, as (it is) for every other kid that plays his first game, but he's one of these kids that’s really just switched on and very focused.
“He says nothing off the field – his nickname is Humphrey like Humphrey B. Bear because he says nothing, but on the ground he speaks, he's a leader, he talks, he instructs and from our point of view he's developing really well.”
