Brett Ratten has hit back at Terry Wallace's criticism of the Carlton midfield, saying the comments from the former AFL coach are "very unfair".

Carlton were terrible in Saturday night's 72-point loss to Adelaide and Wallace later said the Blues onballers - even captain Chris Judd - needed to improve their defensive work.

The loss cost the Blues a home elimination final and they will instead travel to the `Gabba for Saturday night's sudden-death match against Brisbane.

The Blues coach said Wallace, who finished as Richmond coach earlier this year, was reading too much into one very bad performance.

"Sometimes when you haven't got the ball in your hands and you're getting beaten in some aspects of the game, it can look worse," Ratten said.

"There might have been a period in the game where we were bees to the honey.

"I will defend the offensive side of our game - on the weekend, we conceded 170-odd points, which is quite embarrassing, but before that we've really improved defensively as a team.

"Terry might have made an observation that was a part of last week's game, but I don't think you can put that down to a (season's) performance and it's very unfair to our group."

Judd also dismissed Wallace's criticism, saying Carlton were obviously poor in all facets of their game against the Crows.

"There are (more than) 1,000 accredited journos, all with 1,000 different opinions.

"You can't defend yourself against all of them.

"Offensively on the weekend our midfield was pretty ordinary and defensively we were pretty ordinary - that resulted in a 72-point loss."

This is Carlton's first finals series since 2001 and the club are making sure the players know that the Blues are expected to succeed in September.

Club president and legendary forward Stephen Kernahan spoke at a dinner soon after the loss to Adelaide, while premiership coach David Parkin also addressed the team on Monday.

Kernahan referred to the brilliant performance from Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli in the grand final last year, using it as an example of the need for every player to do his bit.

Ratten said Parkin had told the Blues that September essentially was a new season.

"If you're in it, you're a chance, aren't you?," Ratten said.

"Anything is possible - even David was speaking about Carlton's success in finals.

"We're a dangerous commodity when we're in there, we're a dangerous opposition.

"It's a new season, opportunity arises."

Parkin is renowned for his passion, to the point where the arteries on his neck can bulge in a worrying manner.

But Ratten later joked that Parkin was only running at 20 per cent - not 120 per cent.

Judd added: "It (the artery) didn't get all the way out, I don't think - it might have popped its head out a little bit - but we didn't have the medicos on standby."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP