Under extreme pressure following an insipid display against Collingwood at the MCG last week, the Blues belted the Bombers at the same ground by 76 points on Friday night.
The 23.11 (149) to 9.19 (73) win was a dramatic turnaround for Ratten and everyone at Visy Park, who had been under the microscope all week.
After last week’s loss, the coach had publicly questioned his side’s aggression and physicality, saying he had been embarrassed by the group’s display.
But when asked how to assess their response against the Bombers, he was a far different man to the one who faced the media following the Magpies mauling.
“First class, I think,” Ratten said of his side’s performance.
“Win, lose or draw, if you come with that appetite, no one can question your endeavour or your intent.
“We lost a lot of credits ... our pride was really dented and we had to respond.”
Ratten said the club had been itching to make amends for its display against Collingwood.
The coach had made four changes to the side that ran out the previous week and was thrilled with the additions.
“If that game could’ve been played on Monday, we would have asked for the ball to be bounced on Monday to redeem ourselves,” he said.
“It felt like it’s been three weeks since we last played, so from that point it was great that we were Friday night - first up, get a chance, everyone will watch how we’re going to respond and to respond like that was really pleasing.
“Last week there were some glaring deficiencies in our game and I thought the players that were put in the team this week really responded fantastically.
“I thought our group was really hard at the footy. Contested footy, by the end of the game, was 134 to 118 so it was a clear win for us and it was an area of the game where we thought we had to really stiffen up.”
While the final score may have flattered Carlton, it wasn’t until the last term where the Blues ran away.
They booted 10 goals to annihilate their opposition, and Ratten singled out one man as being a catalyst in that onslaught.
“I thought Robbie Warnock really set the scene early in that last quarter,” he said.
“His performance with his hands, to [Richard] Hadley twice, and [David] Ellard the next time [was great]. I thought that was the big thing, winning centre bounces is something that we’ve done but we haven’t had a lot of flow from the centre bounces.”
In a first for Ratten, he had a different view of proceedings as he took the in-vogue step of coaching from the boundary.
And with a perfect one-from-one record, he said he was unlikely to revert back to the coaches’ box after a successful debut at ground level.
“I wanted to be a part of it with the players as well, and give them feedback and really reward those blokes that are doing what’s required and then maybe question the blokes that need to maybe go in a bit,” he said.
“I really enjoyed it, it was good ... you felt like you were a part of the game.
“Sometimes being in the box ... you’ve got some control to a degree but with rotations at 130 and 140 and things like sometimes you feel that you’re not actually in the game as much.”
