Carlton could be without a string of senior players through injury in the wake of their first defeat of 2024.
The Blues were forced into a late change due to a hamstring concern for midfielder Adam Cerra, who was replaced in Michael Voss' side an hour outside of the opening bounce against Adelaide on Saturday, with ruckman Marc Pittonet coming into the squad.
Cerra hurt his hamstring at training on Thursday in what has been described as a low-grade strain, with a further assessment to come.
Carlton's injury woes were compounded during the thrilling two-point loss at Marvel Stadium, with veteran defensive pair Adam Saad and Mitch McGovern both suffering hamstring injuries of their own during the contest.
The pair will both undergo scans early into the coming week, with even minor setbacks to both Saad and McGovern likely to at least rule them out of the Blues' Round 6 match against GWS.
Despite conceding the last three goals of the game to go down by less than a kick, Voss didn't want to place any blame on his limited numbers late into the contest.
"We don't use it as a reason. We still had three on the interchange bench that we could use," the Carlton coach said after the loss.
"A couple of defenders went down so we had to shift the magnets a bit to obviously fill guys into other roles.
"If we maximised our moments we don't need those plays, that's the cold heart of reality."
Carlton could regain defender Caleb Marchbank (concussion/back), Lachie Fogarty (wrist), Jesse Motlop (hamstring) and David Cuningham (calf) for their clash with the Giants next week.
The Blues were buoyed by Sam Walsh's return to the side for his first game of the year, with the former No.1 pick collecting 34 disposals, 13 tackles and eight clearances against the Crows to be among the Blues' best.
Well carlton dive have more scoring shots, so you’d have thought they’d win.
…. and quite a few more “dubious” decisions/non-decisions too….. so you’d have thought they’d win.