Poor Brett Ratten!

You just have to feel sorry for one of the genuine nice guys of the AFL this week.

The Carlton coach has finally got his team improving only to run into football's toughest challenge - Geelong on the rebound.

The Blues, who have finished in the bottom two in five of the past six years, find themselves in ninth place after nine rounds and just a game outside the top eight following last week's come-from-behind win over Fremantle.

That was Carlton's fourth win in nine games and this week it tries for consecutive victories for only the fifth time since the worst slump in the club's history began in 2002.

But just as the Blues finally look capable of building some momentum they face a Cats side that will be breathing fire this week after only its second loss in 29 games.

And if there is one thing worse than taking on the reigning AFL premiers coming off an 86-point hiding from arch-rivals Collingwood, it is doing so while having your two best defenders in Michael Jamison and Jarrad Waite sidelined through injury and suspension respectively.

Ratten certainly knows what he is up against this week.

"It is definitely (the worst time to play Geelong)," Ratten conceded.

"What a challenge for our group to cop a great team like Geelong on the rebound - particularly now with 'Waitey' out."

While the Cats, who kicked their lowest score in two years last week, will be anxious to take out their frustrations on the Blues - the other two pacesetters this season in Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs meet in a blockbuster in Launceston on Saturday.
The Hawks took over top place following the Cats' loss last week and have won the first nine games of the season for the first time in their history while the third-placed Bulldogs have only lost one game - last week's heartbreaker against North Melbourne thanks to Brad Johnson's miss after the final siren.

But Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade insists Saturday's game will not decide just who will finish in the prized top two positions this season.

"There's still a long way to go, there's going to be a lot more games that will decide where we finish," he said.

"It's just a test for us against the top team."

Eade said winning the midfield battles would be the key to stopping the Hawks' powerful attack.

"That's what we'd like to think that we could do, to be