Injury-hit Carlton defender Michael Jamison says he is determined to shake off his back problem in time to be fit for the opening round of the AFL premiership season later this month.

Jamison has missed the entire NAB Cup but said he planned to play for the Blues’ VFL side on March 24.

“I’m back into full training now,” Jamison said. “I won’t play this week but the plan is to play the week after.

“After running laps of the boundary, you get pretty excited to get back training and also get back playing, so I’m looking forward to that in a couple of weeks.

“At this time of the year, match fitness is the important thing for me so, regardless of where I play, I’ll be just trying to get a bit of fitness.”

He said Carlton doctors had treated his injury cautiously and he was confident there would be no relapse.

“That’s the nature of the injury. You have to take it slow unfortunately and sometimes it’s tough to hold back but you’ve got to look at the bigger picture.

“Round one is important but the end of the year is more important.

“If I play round one, which is a goal, that’s a bonus but I’m sort of more looking forward to getting ready for the end of the year.”

Meanwhile, lanky Blues ruckman Matthew Kreuzer said the club was not worried about its inability to win a game in the pre-season competition.

“You don’t really look at that in the big picture,” Kreuzer said.

“Obviously we’ve put some things in place this pre-season that we have to work on and develop.”

Kreuzer said he was relieved to have completed a full pre-season after setbacks in previous years ranging from a knee reconstruction to leg numbness which ruled him out of last year’s finals campaign.

“To actually get out there and have a month of training under my belt and I’m just looking forward to games and getting into it,” he said.