CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse says he has no doubt that the club's embattled players are right behind him.
Malthouse insists the Blues' form slump is due to a loss of confidence rather than a lack of faith in his coaching.
"I'm very confident that I have the player group going in one direction," the veteran coach told Channel Nine's Footy Classified on Monday night.
"Now, at the moment, yes we're zero and four. But we do know what we have to do.
"It's not as if we go out on the field and there's just total disarray. We know what we have to do."
Malthouse is adamant that he did not overrate Carlton's list when he arrived at the club.
And despite the recent travails, he is using the Blues' impressive first half against Port Adelaide in round one and its gallant second half against Richmond in round two as evidence that his men can play decent football if they get their minds right.
"We are no doubt down on confidence," he said. "There's no question we're down on confidence.
"When you lose confidence, it goes, and somehow or other you've got to find it. And I don't know.
"I don’t think anyone can say they've ever put a finger and say, 'Well that's what gives you back your confidence.'"
Malthouse continues to praise the work of the men who brought him to the Blues, the club's under-fire president Stephen Kernahan and chief executive Greg Swann.
But he was coy when asked about the fact that Kernahan is stepping down in the coming months and Swann is in danger of losing his job.
"One of the things about coaching is this: you sign a contract, and from thereon in after you're at the mercy of the media, supporters, the club, and that's never been a worry to me," Malthouse said.
"If it's out of my control, it's out of my control.
"All I do, week in week out, is send the best possible side down that race in the best possible shape.
"It's going to win some games and unfortunately it's going to lose some games.
"If you hang in there long enough, and you've got a side you believe in, then it gets turned around.
"I have been through period like this before, and I the end of it I know that the side goes up."
Malthouse is also standing by his skipper, Marc Murphy, whose form and leadership have come into question following Saturday's shock loss to Melbourne.
"He is a good captain and he'll get better," Malthouse said. "When his turn's finished, whether it be five, seven or eight years down the track … he'll be remembered as a very good captain.
"He's taken over some pretty big shoes, let's face it, Chris Judd's shoes."
