"I don't know what the exact margin was but I think we are in a different situation than we were last year," Ratten said when asked about the 117-point thrashing on Wednesday.
"Our confidence is on the way up, and the belief -- and the other thing is Brisbane have to come down here.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction, I thought the first three weeks after the Essendon game, I’ve stated before that we had some things that we needed to address. We addressed that and I think our last month of footy has been pretty good.”
Jonathan Brown kicked ten goals on a day that facilitated the departure of then coach Denis Pagan, and with the Lions' forward appearing near full fitness during the Hall of Fame Tribute Match, Ratten is wary of his game-breaking ability.
"The other night he kicked the ball from about 50 or 60 metres out so I think his quad is fine,” he said.
"That was a rude awakening for our team, when a bloke kicked 10 and did it with that ease.
“I think Browny played well, but I think it was the [excellent] ball supply as well that day up in Brisbane. That’s our challenge: to stop the Blacks and the Powers, and if Lappin comes back and if Johnstone comes back, to stop the supply down to Brown.”
Ratten admitted he “crossed fingers and legs” as he nervously watched Chris Judd, Brendan Fevola and Jarrad Waite participate in the Hall of Fame Match, and was relieved to report all three had pulled up well from the exhibition game.
Waite may get first crack at his Victorian captain with strategies on how to curb the influence of Brown likely to dominate the Blues’ match committee meeting on Wednesday.
“Waite played on him last time up in Brisbane and Browny kicked 10 … Waitey did not do a bad job, so I don’t know how you read into that,” he said.
“We’ll just have a look, we’ve got match committee this afternoon, and whether we put one player on him, two players, maybe three players; we’ll just wait and see.”
Fevola’s Allen Aylett Medal-winning, six-goal performance in the all-star match would not hasten any contract talks according to Ratten, who has been delighted with the spearhead’s form and demeanour since his pre-season indiscretion.
The coach expected Fevola’s contract situation to be discussed, along with several other players’, around the half way point of the season and denied the club had decided to take a ‘one season at a time’ approach with Fevola.
“I don’t know if we offered him a single year [contract]. I think that got a bit mixed up in the media,” he said.
“I think if we offer Brendan a contract, it probably would be more than one year, but we'll just wait and see what comes out on the table.”
Richard Hadley is in line for a recall to face his old side after shaking off a groin strain with either Shaun Hampson or Cain Ackland set to partner Matthew Kreuzer in the absence of the injured Cameron Cloke.
With Essendon’s Matthew Knights and Richard Horsburgh making headlines for the wrong reasons early in the week, Ratten was quizzed about his relationship with Carlton president Dick Pratt.
“If Dick wants to change the team, well [he can] come in at half time and we’ll have a look at it,” he said with a wry grin.
“I don’t know what goes on at Essendon, that’s their club and they do what they want to do, but at our club Dick Pratt and all our board has been super supportive to me.”
