IN THE lead-up to Sunday’s clash against Carlton at the MCG, assistant coach Jade Rawlings says the Demons are preparing for the Blues’ best.

Although Carlton sits on the bottom of the ladder with just three wins for the season, Rawlings said it would be folly to take the Blues lightly.

“Carlton had a big spike, as you generally do, from a caretaker coach perspective and ‘Barks’ (John Barker) has done a good job with them from what you can see,” he told Dee TV.

“They didn’t get the result they were after against Brisbane last week, but we plan for the team’s best and we’re not in a position to be thinking that we’re going in favourites – with our form last week, there is no way we can.

“Carlton has got plenty of talent and good players around the ball and shown they can score quite well. Their game against Collingwood two weeks ago was quite good and they were right in the game until late.

“We’re planning very thoroughly for Carlton and we’re planning for what they’re capable of doing, rather than what they haven’t been able to do in the last week.”

Rawlings said the preparation had been strong this week, after a disappointing performance against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium last Sunday.

“We had a full day down at Cranbourne on Wednesday and a main session today (Friday) with the senior squad for Sunday’s game, so we were quite pleased with the output from the players this week, in relation to how we want them to go about it and in response to the game last Sunday.”

“They’ve done as much as we could ask from them, from a training perspective this week.”

The backline coach said the 98-point loss last round was a wake-up call for the Demons.

“Last week the intent of the players was to perform well and we beat the Bulldogs 10 or 12 weeks earlier and it was one of our better wins for the year.

“Clearly the game didn’t pan out the way our players – in their heads – would’ve thought. No doubt, we weren’t up for the fight in the first half and it was particularly disappointing.

“They found something in the third quarter, so it was hard to take. Was it a really good response or damning that we couldn’t get that response at the start? The third quarter showed what we’re capable of doing, when our football is played and our players are engaged into that way of playing.

“It was a definite wake-up call and these last three weeks present a major opportunity for us to what we still want to achieve for the full 22 weeks – and not just for 20 weeks.

“We’ve certainly amped the players up this week for what we expect and with the chats they’ve had among themselves – they certainly know what to expect from each other.”