Carlton coach Brett Ratten saw AFL "football at its finest" scouting Geelong last weekend and admits the Blues face a daunting task at the MCG on Monday.

Ratten watched admiringly as the Cats dismantled Port Adelaide with an incredible 11.7 to 1.0 third term at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.

As a football fan he loved it.

"It was very entertaining," Ratten said.

"If you're a football follower just to watch pure class and the way they went about it, to kick 11.7 in a quarter.

"If any team's having a look at a quarter, I think that's the one you go back to, that's just offensive football at its finest.

"Winning the ball out of the centre, using it, creating opportunities, they just didn't give their opponents a sniff."

But as Blues coach, Ratten conceded his talented but young midfield face an enormous challenge to compete with the best.

"The players that they have in there and the depth that they have in there, it's very hard for any team to match up on," he said.

"(Gary) Ablett's a Brownlow medallist, (Jimmy) Bartel's a Brownlow medallist, let's be honest, Joel Corey could win a Brownlow medal, he's a great player in is own right.

"(Cameron) Ling does a fantastic job ... (James) Kelly rolls through there, (Paul) Chapman pushes to a wing, but legitimately could play centre for most teams in the competition.

"If Corey Enright was in our team he'd probably play in the midfield as well, the list just goes on and on and on, (Joel) Selwood's a champion of the game already.

"It's a daunting task, but it's one you go there very excited and with a lot of enthusiasm for our group.

"These are the best players in the competition in their area and what they do for their team.

"It will be great for our group to challenge themselves really against the best."

Boosting their confidence, the Blues won their most recent meeting with the Cats, in round 19 last season.

But Ratten noted it was a rare victory, coming after five successive beltings from Geelong.

The Blues boss said his main demand was for his charges to reproduce the intensity that helped them comfortably beat Adelaide last weekend, rather than their lacklustre effort against Essendon the previous round.

"Geelong are a great team, they don't have many drop-offs from game to game, quarter to quarter and that's the sort of message that I've been banging on about to our players ... that's what the great teams of the competition do."

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