Carlton coach Brett Ratten has defended the Blues’ AFL pre-season, saying they tried to keep the playing list as healthy as possible before round one.

North Melbourne beat Carlton by 16 points on Sunday at Visy Park to leave the Blues without a win in their five NAB Cup games.

Kangaroos key forward Drew Petrie starred with seven goals as they won 18.8 (116) to 15.10 (100).

Carlton have confirmed Michael Jamison, Andrew Walker, Nick Duigan, Robbie Warnock and Jeremy Laidler will all miss the traditional round-one clash against Richmond as they recover from injuries.

“Today wasn’t about winning or losing – (it was) probably the last bit of our preparation,” Ratten said.

“Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

“We tried to manage our list. That was the best thing we could do – that’s why we played (Chris) Judd here.

“We had a plan in place and we stuck to it.”

Judd looked scratchy early, but the Carlton captain came into the game solidly as he continues to build fitness following off-season shoulder injury.

Ratten also noted that three of the other losses were narrow and, again on Sunday, the Blues had their chances.

After trailing by 40 points during the third term, the Blues rallied and were much stronger in the final quarter.

But the Kangaroos held on for an impressive win.

North set up the win by kicking nine unanswered goals either side of halftime.

“The third quarter was pretty disappointing … and probably a little bit of our ball use through the game,” Ratten said.

He noted Carlton had 17 marks inside 50m to seven.

“We had to work so much harder for our goals and opportunities … that was the difference between the two teams,” he said.

While Carlton brought on three fresh players at halftime, North went with the same 22 for the whole match as they prepare for their round-one clash with Essendon.

Coach Brad Scott said they are still trying to settle on their best side.

“It’s always difficult to read too much into these games – you do have slightly-different priorities,” he said.

“But when you play a competitive game, you like to win it.

“So from that side of things, it was pleasing – particularly given the quality of the opposition.”

Blues ruckman Matthew Kreuzer impressed with another strong game and key forward Jarrad Waite could have rivalled Petrie’s game, but he kicked 2.4.

Liam Anthony played a strong game on Judd and Ryan Bastinac had plenty of the ball, while youngster Kieran Harper also impressed.