Carlton coach Josh Fraser fires ‘different’ warning shot at Geelong as wildcard justified

Carlton forward Ben Ainsworth is pinching himself to be in an elimination final but has declared the Blues “not done yet”.

After being 1-8 when Josh Fraser took over as coach from Michael Voss, Carlton have risen to be in a showdown with last year’s grand finalists Geelong.

Finishing the home-and-away season in 10th, the Blues wore down seventh-ranked Melbourne to win a gruelling wildcard battle at the MCG on Saturday night.

Carlton have suffered just two losses in their last 15 outings, making them arguably the in-form team of the AFL.

“This is the thing that everyone’s been saying — if wildcard round is to succeed we need to see a team come to life in the back half of the year,” 7NEWS reporter Xander McGuire said on The Round So Far.

“A team that wouldn’t have made finals otherwise and they’re going to strut their stuff and make a case for this to continue, and that was Carlton beating the Dees.”

During their run, the Blues have managed to take down minor premiers Fremantle and reigning champions Brisbane.

Carlton were also able to knock off the Cats earlier in the season, Fraser’s third game in charge in what was a thriller at the MCG.

“Maybe in parts,” Fraser said when asked if they could take confidence from last time into this clash with the Cats.

“We were 1-8 at the start of the year, and now we’re winning our first wildcard final,” he said.

Ainsworth, who was winning an elimination final with Gold Coast 12 months ago, knew Carlton wouldn’t give in, even after conceding the first four goals of the match to Melbourne.

The former Suns player was an outstanding with three goals from his 21 disposals.

After quarter-time, the Blues’ defence held firm to restrict the Demons to just three more goals for the remainder of the night.

“We’ve done a lot of work in that space, so no one was panicking,” Ainsworth said.