SAM DOCHERTY says Carlton's players will remain focused on the team's direction and not become distracted by their individual futures with a September berth out of the equation.
Docherty, 21, conceded on Wednesday there was always the risk for players to become more concerned about their place in a team when finals were no longer a possibility.
But he believed the Blues were more interested in making sure they did everything they could to improve as individuals and a team over the last six games of the season.
"With professional footballers, you find out very quickly the ones who play for themselves," he said.
"It goes against them because football is a team game, and if you don't play as a team you get found out very quickly.
"We're just trying to play as a group and as a team – that's when we play our best footy.
"The next six games are exciting. We're not in a position where we're going to make finals but we have such a young group, every game we get in is so important for the development of each player.
"We've got a massive opportunity for some young guys to get some game time in and really grow their own performance, and the team performance.
"We've still got a hell of a lot of room to improve and we've just got to keep moving forward as a group."
Docherty said they simply had to move on from Friday night's disastrous 138-point loss to Hawthorn, but not treat it as a predictable hiccup in the club's rebuild.
With a number of key players including Andrew Carrazzo, Bryce Gibbs, Dale Thomas and Andrew Walker sidelined, the Blues were no match for the reigning premiers.
He said the most important thing was to make sure the massive loss became a learning experience for the young team.
"[Losses like that] are not supposed to happen, you don't go out to lose by that much but they taught us some great lessons," he said.
"As a group we sort of have to move on.
"They're one of the best sides maybe ever in the AFL so there's a lot of lessons to be learned from them, they way they go about it, the way they play as a team, their brand, how they're all on the same page.
"It's a really impressive way to play footy and it taught our young group a lot about what you've got to do to make it, and also how far we are off the level of being competitive against those guys."
The magnitude of the loss was a blow for interim coach John Barker, who hopes to take on the full time role in 2016.
But Docherty said the popular assistant coach was capable of putting the huge loss behind him.
"I think he can bounce back," he said.
"The strides we've made as a group from midway through this year have been significant and all the players back the way we're playing [under him]."
