Carlton are bullish about Chris Judd’s recovery from surgery, saying he is on track for a round-three AFL return.

The Blues suffered a major pre-season blow five weeks ago when the two-time Brownlow Medallist needed an operation to fix achilles tendon problems.

Given he is 30, the news heightened speculation about how long Judd would continue playing.

But Carlton football director Andrew McKay said the star midfielder is making a strong recovery.

They are confident he will return for the round-three blockbuster against arch-rivals Essendon.

McKay said on the AFL website that Judd is back running and will resume skills training next week.

“Chris has had three or four sessions where he’s run, which is good, and he’s obviously been doing stationary skills as well,” McKay said.

“He’ll build up that running next week and then join in with the main group’s skills work, probably late next week or early the following week just before our round two game against Richmond.

“The plan is that with two weeks of solid training he’ll be right to go for round three against Essendon.

“He’s maybe a little bit ahead of where we thought he’d be, but we don’t want to get too excited and we’re still looking at a round three return.”

Meanwhile, Port Adelaide’s Jarman Impey and Tom Clurey will make their AFL debuts in the Sunday night clash against the Blues at Etihad Stadium.

As expected, high-profile free agent Dale Thomas and former Sydney player Andrejs Everitt will play their first regular-season games for Carlton.