Carlton coach Mathew Buck has thrown down the gauntlet to Melbourne, declaring the Demons will need to bring their best to Ikon Park if they are to beat the resurgent Blues to an AFLW grand final berth.
The Blues scrapped their way to a thrilling five-point semi-final win over Hawthorn on Saturday night to tee up a blockbuster preliminary final clash.
With Ikon Park to host the game as part of a double header with the earlier North Melbourne-Sydney preliminary final, the Blues get a home final despite being the-lower ranked team.
Buck is adamant Carlton have improved since losing to Melbourne by 34 points at Casey Fields in round six.
"We learned a lot from that game," Buck said.
"We look forward to having them here at Ikon Park. I'm sure it'll be noisy, and I'm sure we're going to turn up at contests and take it to them as hard as we can.
"So they're going to have to make sure they're at their very best when they get here because I think our team's starting to find some form."
Last time out, Olivia Purcell, Tyla Hanks and Kate Hore got the better of Carlton's midfield led by Abbie McKay, Mimi Hill and Claudia Whitford.
"We're well balanced through our midfield and we run deep through there, so we've got some things we can do that (are) a little bit different to other teams," Buck said.
"So look forward to that challenge."
Carlton, who hope to regain Ciara Fitzgerald (shin), lost to Brisbane in last year's preliminary final and Buck was confident they were better for the experience.
"It's a little bit about how you manage your energy as a whole group when you play this late in the year," Buck said.
"So it's really easy to kind of tip over and do too much.
"We'll make sure we manage each individual, is always the way that we've kind of approached it."
Buck pointed to how Carlton contained Hawthorn's momentum after conceding the opening three goals as an example of their maturity.
"We're growing as a group all the time, and hopefully that puts us in good stead for next week," he said.
Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster was adamant his charges would only take good lessons from a third-straight semi-final exit.
"We're on an upward trajectory. It's really exciting where we're heading," Webster said.
"The more experience you get in these moments, the better you're going to be for it.
"We're still a relatively young group, and playing in finals is far better than playing home-and-away season.
"So you learn far more from what we've had to go through, and again, we'll continue to get better and I think it's going to hold us in a good place."
