Despite the loss to the Demons, he said the signs were positive.
“The last couple of weeks we probably would have let that [match] slip, but we fought back, so that was a positive,” he said.
“It can be a long year if we keep getting smashed but we banded together during the week and had a few meetings and made a point that we are going to fight the year out and make it a good finish and look forward to next year.
“The good thing is that the spirit around the club is good so we’ll just keep fighting away and hopefully have a few more wins.”
Houlihan, 25, became the second youngest player to reach 150 games behind club legend Robert Walls on Sunday, and says he was honoured to reach the milestone at a club with a history like Carlton’s.
With his family in the crowd he said he was disappointed not to celebrate with a win but was proud of the way the side stuck at the task.
“It was a proud day,” he said.
“All the family was down, it just would have been better if we finished with a win, but I’m very honoured to reach 150 at a club like Carlton.”
Coach Denis Pagan paid tribute to his classy defender who was taken with pick 76 in the 1999 AFL National Draft.
“He’s done wonderfully well to achieve that,” Pagan said of Houlihan.
“Stats tell you that after pick 59 in the draft you’ve got a nine per cent chance of playing 20 games, well Ryan’s far exceeded that.”
While the team didn’t get a win, Houlihan certainly did. He kept Demon speed machine Aaron Davey to just four possessions while gathering 20 of his own playing predominantly inside defensive 50.
A young veteran in his mid 20s, Houlihan, who played in consecutive finals series in his first two seasons at the club, said the influx of fresh faces in recent seasons kept him motivated.
“I was very lucky that in my first two years I played in such a good team and I thought AFL footy was so easy,” he said.
“But, after you get to 100 [games] it starts to shift from how you’re going to the team perspective and you start looking at winning premierships … teach the younger guys and be a leader.”
On his form to date in 2007 he is certainly achieving his goal.
