Ben Cousins must wonder if his AFL comeback was worth the trouble after he was injured and Richmond embarrassed by Carlton by 83 points in the season opener at the MCG.

Tiger fans in their thousands came expecting to witness a new dawn but left shellshocked after the Blues stormed to a 23.12 (150) to 9.13 (67) victory and Cousins limped off the ground with a leg injury.

Clearly delighting in upstaging their old rival, the Blues produced at times scintillating football and aided by a generous helping of woeful Richmond mistakes opened with an eight-goal first quarter.

They never let up by booting five goals in all three of the next quarters before a crowd of 86,972 - an attendance which fell just short of the record for a round one game, but was the biggest at a home and away clash between these sides.

Cousins gathered a possession inside the first 10 seconds but from thereon struggled to find the tempo of the game which opened at a frenetic pace.

His night ended six minutes into the last quarter when he was injured falling to the ground giving off a handball, which ended a shocking night for his new club.

Carlton skipper Chris Judd over-shadowed his former Eagles teammate by stamping his influence on the game after quarter-time while defender Jarrad Waite's rebound and three goals earned him the honours over Tigers star Matthew Richardson.

In a match that Carlton dominated for all but the first 10 minutes, Eddie Betts booted five goals including three in the third quarter, Marc Murphy stamped his class on the ball and kicked two brilliant goals in the last term, and Brendan Fevola dobbed a long bomb and a volley from the goal square.

Simon Wiggins continued his improvement with two goals and a hanger in the third term, and Carlton unearthed a new livewire forward in Mitch Robinson, who tackled hard and kicked three goals in his debut.

Thursday night's victory will give Carlton confidence they can build on last year's improvement and reach the finals for the first time since 2001.

But the result was a nightmare beginning for Richmond, whose coach Terry Wallace needs a finals berth to earn himself a new contract.

On evidence, the Tigers cannot bank on Cousins - when fit - to reach the finals for the first time in eight years, but aside from the new No.32, little has changed.

Richmond's skill levels were atrocious, their movement out of the backline chaotic, their decision-making panicked and their finishing poor, even though Richardson hit the post twice.

Mitch Morton booted four goals, but the mistakes of normally assured players like Chris Newman, Nathan Foley and Brett Deledio were glaring.

In a further blow, Andrew Raines was assisted off the ground late, while Betts also hobbled to the bench.

Tigers coach Terry Wallace said Cousins could be out for up to four weeks with his hamstring complaint.

Wallace confirmed Cousins would be sidelined for at least three weeks, but was hopeful the injury was not as serious as the chronic hamstring problems the midfielder endured as an Eagle.

"It's not the damage that was done the last time he did it, it's a legitimate hamstring injury so we'll take it from there," he said.

"It's obviously disappointing for him and everyone involved."

Raines strained a knee, but the Tigers are not sure of the severity.

Wallace could not offer any excuses for the blow-out, which he described as "incredibly disappointing".

"Our fans didn't want to see what they saw, I don't want to be sitting here trying to make excuses for what was a poor effort, your players don't want to be going through that as well," he said.

Wallace said the build-up to the game had been like a grand final, which made the mistakes even more glaring.

"Our big mistakes early in the game were the things that just sapped the confidence of the team," he said.

"Then when you go back into your shell and you're not attacking the footy you just look second-rate all over the ground."

Carlton coach Brett Ratten was delighted with the pressure his side put on the Tigers on such a big stage.

"Our pressure and tackling - 81 tackles and 20 inside-50 tackles - was an outstanding effort from our group," he said.

"But it's round one and the challenge will be now to back that up week in week out."

He said Waite's early domination of Richardson was also influential.

"That was the thing that made it a deflater for Richmond, that Waite got on top of Richardson through hitting the scoreboard," he said.

"That really affected their group a little bit."

Carlton said Betts came off the ground with cramp, but would be fine for round two, along with Fevola, who entered the game with a sore heel.

But the Blues could be without midfielder Kade Simpson, who was reported for making forceful front-on contact on Daniel Jackson.

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