Carlton coach Mick Malthouse poured scorn on the umpires after the Blues' 15-point loss to Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Malthouse was particularly livid about the adjudication of the holding the ball rule.

"Have I missed something recently?" he bristled.

"I know I've missed the tackling rule – totally missed the tackling rule.

"In that 12 months out, they've clearly had such an impact that you can now tackle and dispossess and it's now called 'play on'.

"That's something I have totally missed in the 12 months I was out commentating, which I didn't overly see last year.

"But that's a factor, and it's been a factor against us for a few weeks now.

"We pride ourselves on our tackling and dispossession and … the rule, I'm sure, says something about, 'If you don't dispose of the ball correctly, it is incorrect disposal.'

"So I guess we are a little bit bamboozled by that."

The most obvious example occurred during the second quarter when Carlton midfielder Chris Judd tackled Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge and the umpires called play-on after the ball spilled free.

"You could name one, I could name a dozen," Malthouse said.

The final free kick count finished 22-13 in Hawthorn's favour, and Carlton was awarded only four to the Hawks' 14 in the second half.

"That says something, doesn't it?" Malthouse fumed. "I don't know what it says, but it says 14-4."

The Blues boss acknowledged that the second-term clash involving his captain Marc Murphy and Hodge was an "accident", but he was angry that Murphy, who was later diagnosed with a broken cheekbone after being substituted out of the game, was not paid a free kick after the incident.

"I would've liked a free kick for it, and I'm sure he would've liked a free kick for it," Malthouse said.

Still, the veteran coach wasn't about to blame Murphy's injury for the Blues' sixth loss of the season, with all the defeats by less than three goals.

"You lose your captain, against a side like this, of course it has an impact," he said.

"I don't think we lost because of that. It certainly didn't help.

"We squared them off nearly everywhere – free kick count we didn't, metres (gained) were slightly skewiff, but everywhere else I thought we did pretty well.

"Couldn't fault the effort."

Carlton lined up without Andrew Carrazzo for the seventh week in succession after the midfielder, who has struggled to overcome a calf problem, was a late withdrawal.

Asked how far off Carrazzo was from full fitness, Malthouse replied: "Couple of days, as it turned out."

Mitch Robinson battled on bravely after suffering a shoulder injury during the second quarter, finishing the game with 13 touches after collecting eight in the first half.

But Malthouse wasn't about pat him on the back.

"You don't get any medals for bravery in football, you just get out there and do it," he said.