A LOOMING encounter with Geelong is enough to put the fear of God into any team, but Carlton midfielder Heath Scotland says his side had never been more confident going into a game.

With the Blues having won their previous two matches against the Cats, they saw no reason to be "in awe" of their revered opponents.

"We take a bit out of it and we know when we play our brand of football the way we have in previous weeks, we can match it with them and anyone," Scotland said.

Carlton lost Friday night's match by 42 points after Geelong kicked away in the final term, but there were several moments where it looked to be getting hold of the reigning premier.

Coach Brett Ratten highlighted the Blues' lack of defensive pressure at the main change, which sparked a dominant start to the third term.

"We didn't tackle as well as we have in the past. They are big strong bodies and they broke through a few of ours. We made that a real focus at half time and the first 15 minutes of the third quarter our tackle pressure was great," Scotland said.

"We got back into the game and played some good footy. We started to match it and even it up there in the tight stuff - tackles and contested ball.

"Scores against from turnovers probably hurt us in the end."

Scotland said his teammates had to make a habit of putting in a consistent effort from the start of the game to the very end.

"The game's played over four quarters and we fell short. We'll take some confidence out of some areas of the game. I'd say one of the things that will come up is our turnovers," he said.

"We got hurt a lot in scores from turnovers. We'll clean a few areas up. We fell short to a good side but we can improve."