When beaten, good teams hit back hard the following week.

And the response Carlton coach Brett Ratten wanted, he got, in his side's 103-point AFL shellacking of Richmond at the MCG on Saturday.

Upset by West Coast the week before, the Blues bounced back hard and high to shore up their top four place.

It is Carlton's eighth win in their past 10 games, and now Ratten's eyes are on finishing in the top four and the advantages that brings.

"We want to play finals, and we want to be in the best position we can to make sure we have a chance to win finals and get a home final," Ratten said.

"Being top four would be the easiest way to do it. It's in our court to make sure we keep pushing on."

Ratten believes the returns in successive weeks of ruckman Robbie Warnock and tough midfielder Mitch Robinson from injury had added steel to the Blues.

Both were massive contributors in the 28.16 (184) to 12.9 (81) victory over the woeful Tigers.

"We challenged the group about how you respond from a performance of last week's calibre and to do what we did today was outstanding," Ratten said.

"We really set the scene early.

"Robinson coming back and Robbie last week coming back into the team and getting his hands on the ball early really gave us the advantage in the stoppages."

Carlton's multitude of scoring options was again on show with 13 individual goalkickers - eight of them multiple scorers led by small forward Eddie Betts with five goals.

The Blues led by 22 points at quarter-time, but Richmond always looked like they had a finger in a Carlton scoring dam that would burst at any moment.

It did so most spectacularly in the third quarter - the Blues cutting loose with a nine goals to two term to build an 89-point lead by the final change.

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