CARLTON assistant coach Brett Montgomery says the mood around the club has been buoyant following last Sunday’s victory over Collingwood and he is confident the players are focused on maintaining that winning feeling.
This weekend’s opponent, Melbourne, may have not tasted victory so far this season, but Montgomery knows that the Demons will be primed to break their duck against the Blues.
“They’ll be chasing that massive high and that great feeling we had last week, we’re well aware of that,” Montgomery said on Friday.
“I don’t think our guys are in any position to go and get complacent and throw that [feeling] away.”
Brett Ratten spoke about maintaining focus earlier in the week and Montgomery said he had seen no evidence to suggest the players had relaxed following their first win in 15 outings.
“It’s an interesting one because we haven’t been in this position for a long time,” he said.
“They certainly trained with enthusiasm, they actually trained happy if that makes any sense on Wednesday which they haven’t been able to do [for a while].
“I think if as coaches we’re not able to get the guys up in a week like this, we’re not doing our jobs. But also I think internally, the guys need to take some responsibility themselves.
“I think it starts with the leadership group [being] able to keep guys on edge and I don’t think we should have a problem with that - we’re not coming off six or seven wins in a row.”
Montgomery said the Blues’ preparation had been boosted by the inside knowledge of both Ratten and fellow assistant Mark Riley who took over the reins at Melbourne after the departure of Neale Daniher midway through last season.
“Regardless of what sort of form your opposition is in you always plan for their absolute best,” he said.
“Their best from their best players is very good, so we plan for that; we don’t plan for anything less than that.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing this week, we’re coming off a win and that’s a great thing, but we need to come with everything we came with last week.”
