Carlton will be without young midfield pair Zac Fisher and Paddy Dow for at least another week.
Fisher injured his ankle during the side’s Round 1 loss to Richmond and while he has recovered, Carlton director of high performance Andrew Russell said he needs time to rebuild his fitness.
“He lost a lot of conditioning because he basically couldn’t run for seven weeks. There’s no magic when you recondition these guys: you need to do the work,” Russell told the Carlton website.
“He’s getting better, he’s back into skills training and going well.
“He probably won’t play this week, he’s a good chance to play the week after.”
Dow was unavailable for selection in Round 2 after suffering a minor knee injury during the shutdown period and is still a few weeks away.
“It hasn’t settled as we thought it would: we thought it was going to be a very low-level issue,” he said.
“He hasn’t been able to get back into skills yet. He’s running, he’s training hard.
“We’re trying a couple of different things this week that helps him turn the corner.”
In better news, ruckman Matthew Kreuzer is “a realistic option for this year down the track” and could be available in the next two months.
Young ruckman/key forward Tom De Koning is also available for selection after overcoming an ankle injury.