Carlton must defeat Sydney in Sunday's elimination final not only to satisfy a burning desire but to validate the Blues' season, according to veteran midfielder Heath Scotland.
Scotland, who - with seven finals to his credit - is the second-most experienced finals campaigner at the club behind skipper Chris Judd (12), says he's still hurting from last year's elimination final loss to the Lions at the Gabba.
That night, the Blues, playing their first final since 2001, squandered a four-goal lead at three-quarter time to go down by seven points.
Speaking at Visy Park on Tuesday, Scotland said the Blues' season will be wasted if they can't at least advance to the second week of the finals.
"It was great to make the finals last year and it was really disappointing how it ended for us," Scotland said.
"We obviously want to go further than we did last year."
"Deep down there is a burning desire to go one better."
"It was a goal of ours this year to play finals football and now we've got the opportunity to do that."
"We don't want to be there to make up the numbers, we're there to win it like everyone else so, for us, we do need to win."
Scotland said the Blues were none the worse for wear after Friday's narrow loss to the Dockers at Subiaco and would benefit from the nine-day break ahead of Sunday's clash at ANZ Stadium.
The 30-year-old, one of only a handful of current Blues to have played at the Olympic venue, said he doesn't expect the team to be disadvantaged.
"Sydney's form seems a lot better at the SCG than at ANZ Stadium so, with a bit more length in it than the SCG, hopefully we can use a strength of our side, our legs, and really outrun them," he said.
"Our midfield, there's genuine speed there and that might be an area we can exploit them."
"We ran out the game against Fremantle really well so hopefully that's an area we can get on top of them."
"Our interstate record is pretty good, we've won three and lost two narrowly so we've got no concerns with travelling interstate and we'll be confident we can bring our best game on Sunday."
Scotland said he was pleased to see Andrew Carrazzo, who suffered a hamstring twinge against the Dockers, join in training on Tuesday and he rates the hard-working stopper a 50-50 chance to prove his fitness.