ANOTHER game in Perth, another Melbourne club heading home seething about the umpiring.

Hawthorn and North Melbourne have already had their crack at the whistleblowers in Perth. On Thursday night, Carlton was left frustrated by a couple of frees which cost goals.

The two that seemed to cause most consternation were a holding-the-ball decision against Aaron Joseph at the top of the West Coast goal square in the second term which resulted in a goal to Jack Darling, and a 50m penalty against skipper Chris Judd late in the match which took the Eagles to the goal line.

Judd was penalised for elbowing Matt Priddis in the arm while Dean Cox was lining up from a tight angle.

Asked about that decision, Carlton coach Brett Ratten tried to be diplomatic, saying: "What do you say?

"What can you say, you come here knowing that that's the lay of the land.

"They only cost you goals those little incidental free kicks."

During the match, three injured Carlton players tweeted their disapproval.

Marc Murphy said: "Ruined a good game these blokes".

Jeremy Laidler tweeted: "Are you not meant to try and b 1st in at the footy anymore. If u do u will be pinned for holding the ball. SHOCKING!!!"

Jarrad Waite retweeted this from his wife about West Australian umpire Dean Margetts: "3 votes to number 6 wearing green!"

For the record West Coast only won the free-kick count by two (23-21) after getting 10 of the 14 frees given in the first quarter.

Ratten defended Judd's quiet night, saying the skipper had been playing sore in recent weeks.

He conceded, however, that Judd was well beaten on the night by Scott Selwood.

"He is such a ball hunter and teams have really targeted him and gone after him so we do have to look after him," Ratten said.

"He has had to do a fair bit of work to get himself up to play each week.

"He'll thrive from having a few days off. He's got to work through this part of the injury and take the time to heal. We've got 15 days so that will allow him to get a bit of recovery."

Ratten said the Blues would keep the nature of Judd's injury in-house.

He said he was glad the Blues recent stretch, which has seen them play four games in 18 days including two travelling matches, was behind them.

"I don't think any club puts four games in 18 days in a [fixtures] submission. You get the hand you're dealt.

"We've just had a tough patch at the moment and we won't have anything like that in the second half of the year.

"We just have to deal with it."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.