CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says quiet days from star duo Chris Judd and Brendan Fevola does not necessarily mean the Blues cannot produce a victory.

Ratten was adamant about this belief, after the brilliant duo was shut-down by Adelaide, during the Crows' 30-point victory over the Blues at the MCG on Saturday.

"I think it's a team thing, not an individual thing. If they (Judd and Fevola) don't fire, does that mean Carlton can't fire? No, not at all, we need to have everyone put their two bobs in," Ratten said.

Judd had Adelaide run-with midfielder Robert Shirley (21 disposals) restrict Judd to just 15 touches and two late goals, as Ben Rutten, before leaving the ground injured in the second term with a back problem, and Nathan Bock held Brendan Fevola to one goal.

Despite the efforts of the Crows to restrict Judd and Fevola, Ratten said his troops didn't help out his gun duo enough either.

"Today it was probably harder for 'Juddy' and Brendan, the way the Crows set up," Ratten said.

"I don't think we assisted them too well either. Chris was free a few times and we chose not to give him the ball and that was an interesting thing.

"I think most teams will target Brendan and 'Juddy' most weeks, so we know that we need to bring other players into the game and that was probably the disappointing thing with Hartlett [getting injured].

"He could've maybe got under the Crows' guard and we had a couple of shots on goal and we set up to use Hartlett a fair bit and the next minute he goes down, so it makes it tough.

"I don't want to put too much game-time into Matthew Kreuzer and play him at 90 per cent of game-time because he's so young, so we need to look after his welfare and longevity in the game as well."

Ratten, who said midfielder Jordan Russell "really took a step in the right direction" post-match, also believed Steven Browne displayed plenty of qualities on debut.

"He seemed to fit into AFL level at that tempo and in this game, if you compete and you're hungry, you usually fit in and he's one of those kids that do," Ratten said.

"Sometimes when you don't compete - it doesn't matter if you're a first year player or a 200-hundred game player - you look out of your depth."

And as for Browne's first quarter fly over the pack in a marking contest, Ratten was equally impressed.

"We were about to give him a score for his triple somersault on the way down, but he's one of these kids that has a crack and he showed today, even with his tackling and he tackled some of the bigger blokes on the ground … I was pretty pleased with his efforts today," Ratten said.