Midfielder Adam Cerra insists Carlton's players were never divided but their now-famous campfire at veteran Ed Curnow's beach house delivered the honesty sessions that prompted their AFL resurgence.
Cerra made headlines on May 7, after the round eight loss to the Brisbane Lions, when he said Carlton's season, then sitting at 4-1-3, wouldn't be a failure if they missed finals for a 10th consecutive year.
That loss prompted a six-game losing streak.
With their season in peril, and pressure piling on coach Michael Voss, the Blues headed to Curnow's place in Torquay to thrash out where things were going wrong.
Carlton have now won 11 of their past 12 games and are into a preliminary final against Brisbane on Saturday evening.
"Everyone talks about the famous campfire down at Ed Curnow's place and the story seems to be growing legs," Cerra said.
"But it was a time of reflection to just narrow down as a team but also individually on what we need to focus on to really turn it around and start playing the footy that we knew we were capable of.
"I'm sure you've heard a lot of coaches and players talking about contest and pressure and that's really what it came down to.
"It was something easy for us to focus on going into games and stopped us from thinking about results or noise from outside the four walls.
"It was just contest and pressure - just show up with that and it'll be fine.
"So that simplicity for us and for the team, it's been really good for us."
Cerra said only a couple of players had had taken dips in the dam at Curnow's place and dismissed the suggestion players had gotten "wasted" there.
But it proved a moment of clarity.
"Looking into the club from outside the four walls, you could have thought it just was a shambles, the team's cracking, but it honestly was nothing like that," he said.
"We were united through the whole thing and that campfire was a really good opportunity to spend some quality time together outside of the club and just speak honestly, speak openly.
"Leaving that campfire everyone just left with clear focus on the contest, pressure, being a good teammate."
From a midfield perspective, that has included rolling more players, like David Cuningham and Lachie Fogarty, into centre bounces to share the load.
That will be crucial against a powerful Brisbane on-ball division led by Lachie Neale and Josh Dunkley.
"Looking back earlier in the year, they got the best of us so we wouldn't mind a bit of revenge as a midfield group," Cerra said.
