CARLTON captain Marc Murphy has promised Blues' fans a more "aggressive" performance against Melbourne at the MCG this weekend following Sunday night's 81-point thrashing at the hands of arch-rival Essendon.

The Blues were outclassed across the ground, as they constantly missed targets and failed to apply pressure on the Bombers, who blitzed them six goals to none in the opening quarter.

Carlton now joins Melbourne as the only other Victorian team without a win after three rounds.

The Carlton leadership group convened a players' meeting after the defeat to discuss where they had gone wrong and will now work to bounce back on Saturday against the Demons.

"We spoke as a team without the coaches just about the unacceptable effort last night,” Murphy said on Monday morning.

"A few home truths were said and I think you'll see a pretty aggressive side heading into this week's game.

"I suppose one on one we were pretty disappointing, we didn't hold up well enough there and we allowed them to play the game they wanted to play and we let ourselves down."

Murphy said the heavy defeat was one of the most embarrassing losses he had been involved in during his eight seasons at Carlton.

“Look it's very disappointing," Murphy said.

"It's probably the first time in six or seven years that I've been pretty embarrassed to be out on the field and I think a few of the other boys were as well.

"We let ourselves down as a team, as a club and for our members it was extremely disappointing."

Teammate Michael Jamison echoed Murphy's sentiments, declaring the loss the worst defeat he had ever experienced and laying the blame solely on the players.

"It's certainly the worst loss I've been involved in," deputy vice-captain Jamison said.

"It's worse when you think about the supporters and everyone who works at the club who you've let down.

"It was clear that Essendon just out-worked us in every part of the ground ... in the end it just came down to work-rate and effort."