Adelaide's controversial "double goal" in the last term of Saturday's AFL win left Carlton coach Brett Ratten bewildered, but he will take no action.

Blues fans and players were furious, rather than bemused, over the incident involving Carlton defender Jarrad Waite.

Bernie Vince goaled at 18 minutes in the last term to give the Crows a decisive 25-point lead.

The ball had gone over the goal-line when Waite punched it into the crowd, apparently in frustration.

Field umpire Ray Chamberlain then paid a free against Waite for the gesture and gave Richard Douglas a point-blank shot from the goal square.

Carlton had not looked like coming back, but the second goal ensured Adelaide would win.

Coaches will often say in the post-match media conference that they did not see controversial incidents, but Carlton's Brett Ratten said: "I've seen it, yeah - I've seen it, alright.

"It's a big penalty, that one."

Ratten wondered whether the free should have been paid in the middle of the ground, rather than the umpire bouncing the ball to re-start play.

"That did (bewilder) me - I thought a free kick in the middle of the ground might have been a fair result," he said.

But Ratten will not call umpires boss Jeff Gieschen to register his protest.

"The umpires have got a tough job each week and they call it as they see it, you get the good with the bad," he said.

"The players make mistakes, I make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes - I won't ring up Jeff over petty little things that happen in the game."

Adelaide steamrolled Carlton with six goals to two in the third term, but the Blues also suffered from losing Bret Thornton (medial ligament knee strain) and Adam Hartlett (hamstring) before half-time.

It prompted Ratten to quote a statistic from North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley, that a team which is one man down in the first half has a 17 per cent-less chance of winning.

"We'd lost two, so I don't (where) that percentage takes us, but it does have an impact there," he said.

"That's the way footy is - do we call for the extra interchange? - I don't know.

"It's the first time it's happened to us, so you've just got to think on your feet.

"The only thing it does, it does 'gas' players."

A glaring failure for Carlton on Saturday was the team's inability to readjust once Adelaide reduced the impact of Blues stars Chris Judd and Brendan Fevola.

Robert Shirley tagged Judd well and the Crows defence kept Fevola to only one goal.

"It's a team thing ... if they don't fire, does that mean Carlton can't fire? - no, not at all, we need to have everyone put their two-bobs' in," Ratten said.

Saturday was a big test for Carlton - they had won their previous two games and were coming up against a regular finalist that was building some strong early-season form.

While the Crows improved to 4-2, Carlton are now 2-4 and play West Coast next Friday night at Subiaco.

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