Carlton midfielder Mitch Robinson admits he thought his time at the club could have been over after he handed Richmond a crucial goal in the last quarter.

Robinson punched the ball over the goal line on the full from a ball-up, which resulted in a free kick to Ivan Maric.

The ruckman made the most of Robinson's error, kicking the goal to give the Tigers a nine-point lead.

Robinson told AFL.com.au he was unaware of the rule.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Robinson said on Sunday.

"I didn't think that rule was applied as yet. I thought after that I'm going to get traded next year or I'm going to get dropped after that, but we came away with a win."

Redemption came just three minutes later, when Robinson put through his second goal for the match, capping off an important 21-possession game.

It was the goal that put Carlton ahead on the scoreboard.

The fact that Robinson came so close to being the Blues' villain was not lost on Carlton coach Mick Malthouse.

"Mitch Robinson is a great coach-tester," Malthouse said. "I'll leave it at that."

The Blues were down by 26-points at half-time, and Robinson says the team was spurred on by a hard-hitting speech from Malthouse.

"We thought if we applied the pressure for four quarters then we would be able to come away with the win," Robinson said.

"Mick gave a bit of a spray at half-time and told us to clean up a few things like lowering our eyes and getting better deliverance to the forwards.

"Nick Duigan came out today and kicked four goals. He was about five seconds away from not playing and got the call up and he delivered so it just goes to show the players kept their head up and came away with a win."