CARLTON coach Michael Voss has defended the decision to start captain Patrick Cripps on the bench to begin the second quarter, while reiterating that George Hewett still has a role to play for the Blues this season.

Cripps enjoyed a dominant first quarter to spearhead Carlton's seven-goal opening term, winning 12 disposals, six clearances and five tackles for the term.

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However, he spent the first six minutes of the second quarter on the bench, with Adelaide kicking three goals in that time to swing the momentum of the match.

The Crows ultimately went on to kick five straight goals as part of a second-quarter surge that set the foundations for their 28-point win in the Gather Round opener, with Voss saying it was part of Cripps' usual rotations.

"The way forward is to share the load. We don't ask any player to play 100 per cent game time," Voss said.

"I can't believe those sorts of things are still questioned. There's a midfield group that gets the job done.

"The skipper started great and had a very good night, which was fantastic to see. There were some players that returned to form tonight, some of our very important players returned to form tonight. That's really important.

"But we've also got to be better as a team that just doesn't have him in there for 100 per cent of the time."

Carlton dropped reigning best-and-fairest winner Hewett for the Adelaide clash, opting for a more dynamic midfield that featured Cripps alongside Sam Walsh, Zac Williams, Jagga Smith and Adam Cerra.

The Blues ended the match +5 for clearances, +3 for centre clearances and +4 for inside 50s, though Voss stopped short of saying the engine room looked better in light of Hewett's absence.

"It's a bit hard to draw that conclusion for now," Voss said.

"What we were probably able to do was just get a few more players through there. Again, it's sharing the load a fair bit more. We'll continue to see what that looks like. If we're afforded the opportunity to be able to do that, we'll continue in that direction."

Voss also reiterated that Hewett is still expected to feature prominently for Carlton this season, suggesting the rugged inside midfielder would return to the team within the next few weeks.

"George has got a role to play for us," Voss said.

"He's a special human being. They're never nice moments for coaches to have, those conversations. He's a much-loved player. We take always the individual into account, but we also keep the team first and what's in the best interests of the team.

"We got a shift today. We'll keep exploring that. But that doesn't mean he doesn't turn up in the next couple of weeks for us."

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks gave his side a spray at quarter-time, with the midfield group copping the brunt of his attention after finishing the opening term -8 for clearances and -5 for centre clearances.

However, speaking afterwards, Nicks revealed he was under the impression he'd been quite calm with the group and praised assistant coach Nathan Van Berlo for helping him clean up the mess that he'd left at the first break.

"I thought I was quite calm," Nicks laughed.

"It looked a little bit rougher than maybe what I thought it was. I think I started the conversation with, 'I'm not going to yell'. I may have gone there.

"I think it was more disappointment for them. We'd had a big week in that space and we knew the theory, we knew what it was, we knew how we had to get it done against a very good opposition, and we just weren't able to execute it.

"I tried to explain to them, nicely, what that method was that we'd spoken about. To their credit, they turned it around instantly in the second quarter.

"Nathan Van Berlo had a little bit of a chance to get that right after I'd maybe made a mess of it. I think he did a good job of it."

Adelaide kicked six goals to one in the second quarter after Nicks' spray, laying the foundations for the side's comfortable win in the Gather Round opener, with the Crows coach suggesting the side found some of its best form in the Thursday night victory.

"We found patches of ourselves again, didn't we? Some of our best, patches of our best, which was great," Nicks said.

"You come out after half-time and it's almost like a completely different game, it's bucketing down with rain and it stopped the momentum for us. But it was a really positive step for our group.

"We started slowly again, which is going to be a work-on, but to turn that around … we got some really good footy going, even in the first quarter. We got a glimpse of some of the footy we've played in of late. Some of our best footy was back tonight."

However, Adelaide's night was soured when important defender Mitch Hinge limped from the field late in the second quarter with a hamstring injury.

Hinge, who was playing his first game of the year following a pre-season back problem, now faces the prospect of yet more time on the sidelines.

"We think hamstring. To what grade, we don't know yet," Nicks said.

"It's disappointing for him, because he's worked so hard to get himself back. Even in the short period that he was out there, I thought you saw a little bit of that drive and that penetration we get from him off half-back.

"I'll be guessing, but it didn't seem that good."