COACH Paul Roos says his team is not looking beyond Sunday’s showdown against Carlton at the MCG.

When the two sides last met in round 21, 2015, Carlton walked away with a 23-point victory over Melbourne.

Roos said Melbourne would need to be at its very best to defeat a Blues side, which has recently challenged some of the league’s top teams.

“We certainly need to play well against Carlton, even though they’ve lost [nine] games in a row,” he said on Roos Views.

“Within that period, they’ve pushed teams like Hawthorn, West Coast and Sydney, so they’ve played against the best teams in the competition and have done particularly well.

“We need to play some good football this week.”

While Melbourne’s finals prospects continue to be a hot topic of conversation in the media and amongst fans, Roos said it was his job to ensure that it did not distract the players.

“Having been around footy for so long, it (finals talk) doesn’t affect me, but you’ve got make sure it doesn’t affect the players,” he said.

“I think the players are fully aware that Carlton presents a very good challenge and that’s the only focus they have.

“The competition is really starting to even up again, which is great for the fans and is great for everyone [in that they can] generally go along on the weekend and think their team is a chance to win.”

After having a chance to reflect on Melbourne’s form over the past three rounds, Roos said it had been great to see his young side maintain momentum in the later part of the season.

‘’As I said after the [Gold Coast] Suns game, it felt like it was an important win but you never really know [for sure]," he said.

“[If] you lose those games, everyone walks off the ground pretty flat, so it’s certainly translated into some good performances over the last week with [wins over] Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, but we’ve got to keep it rolling.

“There’s some good excitement around the club; the players seem to be bouncing in [to work] and the staff are really looking forward to each day so we’re looking forward to the challenge of Carlton this week.”