Carlton coach Brett Ratten has challenged his players to take the next step for the AFL club and start stringing a series of wins together.

The Blues' annihilation of Collingwood last weekend was a high in an up-and-down season which has done little to clear up just how serious Carlton are as finals contenders.

At 4-4, Ratten admitted his side have been inconsistent this season - something they need to address if they want to prove themselves up to matching the competition's elite.

"That's what the good teams do, they get back-to-back victories and win their two or three games in a row," Ratten said.

"That's where we need to go - we need to get a few games and a few victories in a row to get some momentum up and not this stop-start thing that we've had through the start of the season."

Carlton go into their match against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday able to make it back-to-back wins, and Ratten said all indications were the Blues were moving the right way.

"We went through a lot of our key indicators, and it shows we're heading in the right direction," he said.

"We've played 32 quarters for the season, and we've won 21, but we've got only four wins.

"We've got ourselves to blame in some of the games we've had the opportunities, but I think we've learned a lot from those mistakes."

Ratten is toying with making changes to a winning side, with lead-up forward Simon Wiggins the most likely inclusion after overcoming back and hamstring problems.

Wiggins has been in career-best form this season, but was a late withdrawal from the Blues' win over Collingwood.

"He (Wiggins) is right. He just had back soreness and he's had a hamstring (previously) so we just got a bit worried about it and withdrew him," Ratten said.

"We've got a spot or two we're looking at, though it might stay unchanged.

"We're debating `do we go a bit taller, do we keep the run up'?"

The Crows are 3-5, but all five of their defeats have come against the top five sides on the ladder.

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