Carlton have lost ruckman Matthew Kreuzer and defender Matthew Watson for Thursday night’s AFL blockbuster against Richmond.

Kreuzer was in doubt after a limited training run on Wednesday, while the Blues said Watson was a late withdrawal because of the wet conditions.

Dylan Buckley and Sam Rowe were brought into the side.

There were no late changes to the Richmond line-up.

Meanwhile, new Tigers president Peggy O’Neal wants the match against Carlton returned to its status as the season opener.

But that seems unlikely because of scheduling problems.

The match, which will draw a crowd of about 70,000 at the MCG, was shifted to round two this season.

The MCG was unavailable in the split round-one because of a clash with the domestic cricket calendar.

The AFL season started a week earlier this season, with the league agreeing to a request from the players to an extra bye round.

“This is a rivalry worthy of being the traditional season opener and the number in attendance is the best evidence of when this particular game (should be) held,” O’Neal said at the pre-match function.

“We trust that the game will be returned to its premium place in the fixture in 2015.”