According to captain Patrick Cripps, Carlton hopes Sam Walsh will be available for selection this weekend, pending he gets through training.
Following an impressive 2023 finals series - in which Walsh was the deserved recipient of the Gary Ayres Award - the 2021 All-Australian was keen to continue his stellar form and his pre-season training showed.
However, pulling up with back soreness from match simulation and given his history, the Blues opted to take the conservative approach with the star midfielder, ultimately ruling him out for the first month of football.
Returning to full training, the club is excited by Walsh's imminent return, which could be as early as Saturday when Carlton host Adelaide at Marvel Stadium.
โIf he gets through (training) on Thursday, he'll play,โ Cripps toldย SEN Breakfast.
โHe's jumping around the club yesterday, I'll tell you that much. He's up and about.
โIt's been frustrating for him because he won the Gary Ayres Medal for best player in the final series and he felt like he'd really jumped that hurdle and he was absolutely flying in the pre-season and had a little setback.
โHe's been great. He trained last week with the boys. He gave everyone a little touch-up at training.
โIt was sort of his game day last week in the last session. He's going to give us a lot of punch around the ball and break the lines and that runner that can go contest to contest and open the game up.
โTo be 4-0 with him missing and also (Jacob) Weitering missing two puts us in a good position. It's a good time to get rolling because we've got a tough challenge against Adelaide this week and then a really good schedule against the best teams.โ
Michael Voss will need to make at least one change to the senior line-up, with the club accepting the one-game suspension for Lachie Fogarty's collision with Fremantle's Nat Fyfe.
Voss revealed that Fogarty fractured his wrist during the contest while recruit Elijah Hollands is also in doubt after being subbed out with an adductor injury.
