Frustrated Carlton coach Brett Ratten hopes a key quartet return from injury to heal his AFL side’s battered spine.

Ratten was disturbed by Carlton’s key position weakness in their lacklustre 54-point away loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night.

The heavy defeat leaves the Blues’ top eight spot in peril ahead of a season-defining stretch of matches against Geelong, West Coast, Hawthorn and Collingwood.

Ratten said ruckman Matthew Kreuzer (hamstring), Lachie Henderson (groin), Nick Duigan (calf) and Jarrad Waite (back) could return from injury against the Cats.

“If we can get that personnel, tactically it will give us a bit more of a spine which would be very pleasing for the game plan,” he said.

Midfielder Marc Murphy (shoulder), Andrew Carazzo (shoulder) and Jeremy Laidler (knee) are longer term injuries which have tested Carlton’s depth.

“We have just had a big block of one hit,” Ratten said of injuries, which he said had forced the Blues to field younger players “that might not be ready to play”.

“We need to find a few more of our team leaders and more experienced players to come back to assist with some of these kids,” Ratten said.

Carlton were comprehensively outplayed by strugglers Port at AAMI Stadium, and kicked just three goals after quarter-time in their third loss in four matches.

Captain Chris Judd was critical of the Blues, who failed to win a quarter against the Power.

“There probably wasn’t an area of the ground that we were happy with,” Judd said.

“The simple things – contested footy, clearances -started the rot and we weren’t good enough to fix it.”