TWO years ago, Carlton won the pre-season premiership and then slumped to the wooden spoon in the regular season. Last night, Blues coach Denis Pagan was looking ahead and not behind after his team rallied from behind to defeat the Kangaroos by 15 points in the NAB Cup semi-final at Carrara.

Admitting that some in football circles believe winning the NAB Cup was a "poison chalice", Pagan said he felt contested match play was better for his young side's development than the practice match circuit.

The Blues will play the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night at Telstra Dome in the NAB Cup final.

"It's important for our guys, I think it's the best preparation physically, I'm not so sure it is mentally, we'll find out about that whether our young minds can handle that sort of stuff," Pagan said.

"All I know is it is going to be a great experience for our guys. A couple of years ago we played in a grand final against West Coast, it was an enormous Carlton contingent there, we hope they come out again, we hope there's 50-plus-thousand there and we hope it is a great experience for the boys.

"Some people say it is a poison chalice but at the moment we'll take it and try and take it from there. Physically it is the best preparation you can have. How do you (value a final) for Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy, for Adam Harford, for a lot of those boys who have probably not played in these sort of games. They are probably worth four or five home-and-away games.

"We've got a young group, they're growing all the time, we're going to get a couple of kicks up the backside every now and again, got no doubt about that."

Carlton came back from a 37 point deficit midway through the third quarter to be 27 points ahead in time-on in the last before the Kangaroos kicked two consolation goals in junk time.

Pagan said he wasn't sure what exactly was the spark that turned the game around.

"We played a lot more direct, we were more efficient with our game style, it's funny when you get the ball in the corridor, you kick it a bit longer it goes a bit straighter and I think we kicked 10 straight. There's no rocket science about it. Our blokes just played one-on-one, got it in the corridor and everything else fell into place," he said.

"We were very good in close early but fiddled around with the ball … we were just trying to come up with something that could give us a spark. Whatever it was, they were terrific the boys."

Pagan said Brendan Fevola, who kicked eight goals for the match including four regular and one supergoal in the third period, was a source of frustration and inspiration.

"He frustrated us a few times tonight I can tell you but you look at the goal sheet and he's kicked eight and he was sensational. When he's on the ground he really straightens us up and gives us a target to go to," Pagan said.

After a solid pre-season, Roos coach Dean Laidley gave particular praise to younger players such as Lindsay Thomas, Matt Campbell, Matt Riggio and David Trotter.

"Another step-up in pressure for them tonight. It is probably a bit of a reality check for them so from that it was a really good experience," Laidley said.

"At the end of the day, when you are that margin up you would rather obviously win than lose but I thought Hamish (McIntosh) was pretty good in the centre and when he went off the ground they really gained the ascendancy."