CARLTON'S 67-point loss to North Melbourne was simply one of the "lows" the club will experience over the next few years, coach Brendon Bolton says.
The Blues entered Saturday night's game on the back of four consecutive wins, but were soundly beaten by the Roos, who took a 19-point lead into quarter-time and extended that margin at every break.
Bolton said his team lost the game in the midfield, where North ruckman Todd Goldstein was "sensational" against first-game Blue Daniel Gorringe and the Roos held sway around the stoppages.
As comprehensive as North's victory was, Bolton said it was important the Blues approached both wins and losses with "equilibrium" at this stage of their development.
"Look at what you did well, acknowledge it, don't hide from it because it's easy not to do that when you win. And the areas you need to improve on, show and challenge (them)," Bolton said.
"I don't think it needs to be a lot more complicated than that. It's never as bad as it seems, it's never as good as it seems.
"We're probably going to have some ups and lows in the next few years, we know that, but we'll go away and analyse that game really, really strongly – like we did earlier in the season when we lost games and learn from it.
"We said it's going to be a journey with ups and downs. We've had a few little ups. Here's another little twist and turn and we've got to learn from it and grow from it."
Five talking points: North Melbourne v Carlton
Bolton took some positives out of the Blues' performance against North.
He was buoyed they were not "blown away" in the inside 50 count, which North won 49-45 and he saw "little sprouts of growth" in Patrick Cripps' second half, Ciaran Byrnes' continued development in defence and Liam Sumner's tackling inside the Blues' forward 50 arc.
The Blues coach said Sumner's form over his first six games with Carlton had been encouraging, but was hopeful of bigger and better things if the former Giant could stay fit.
"We think that is one of the areas of growth that we've got. Some of our guys are in their early 20s and Sumner is one of those," Bolton said.
"He's had a really injury-interrupted career (up) to this year and when he gets a full pre-season under his belt – because he didn't even get that with us (this pre-season) – we think there's a lot more upside."
