In the Blues' strongest statement yet to their errant star, the financial sanction was driven by the club's leadership group and imposed in consultation with coach Mick Malthouse and football manager Andrew McKay.
"It was just a stupid thing to do," Carlton skipper Marc Murphy told AFL.com.au.
"'Waitey''s got to be better than that, and he knows that.
"It's been a work in progress for him. Obviously he's had a few suspensions over the years for doing silly little things that there's just no need to do. As a leader of the club he's got to set the right example for all the other players."
However, Murphy refused to disclose the sum of the fine meted out to the 30-year-old, insisting on keeping such details in-house.
Under AFL rules, clubs can fine players a maximum of $5000. They are rarely fined for on-field acts.
In round six against Melbourne at the MCG – Waite's first game for the season after missing the opening rounds with a calf injury – he head-butted Melbourne defender Tom McDonald and received a one-match suspension, along with 87.5 carryover points.
It was his fifth guilty verdict in as many years, with suspensions tallying eight matches.
"We worked it through with the leadership group and Mick and Andy McKay, and everyone gave their opinion and that (fine) was the result," Murphy said. "As a whole, we thought it wasn't a bad way of getting the message across to 'Waitey'."
Waite himself is a member of the Blues' five-man leadership group, which also comprises first-year captain Marc Murphy, joint vice-captains Andrew Carrazzo and Kade Simpson, and Nick Duigan.
Murphy believed the absence of the Blues' best key forward cost them dearly during their nine-point loss to St Kilda but he backed Waite to respond strongly against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
"We missed Waitey at the start of the season through injury and we really missed him on Monday night when we probably lacked a good leading forward to come up at the ball, which is a role Waitey plays really well for us," he said.
"You can't afford to have such an important player missing games for doing stupid things. We need him out there as much as we can."
On Tuesday, fellow leader Simpson revealed Waite had apologised to his teammates and had vowed that he would never again be so undisciplined. Murphy also trusts that will be the case.
"He's paid a price. Mick got into him, and so did the leadership group. We told him it's really not acceptable. Waitey knew that as soon as he did it, so he took that on board," Murphy said.
"He's putting things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again. He'll learn from that. Hopefully this'll be the end of it.
"There's no one more eager than Waitey to get out there on Sunday and respond in the best way he can by playing good footy. I'm confident he'll do that."
With suspensions and injuries combined, Waite has appeared in just 40 of Carlton's past 90 games.
Since the Blues secured him as a father-son selection in the 2001 AFL National Draft, he has played 155 games and kicked 198 goals.
Ben Collins is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_BenCollins
