Carlton are no certainty to regain key forward Charlie Curnow as they pursue consecutive AFL wins for the first time in almost two years.
Curnow was a notable absentee from the training track on Friday morning as the Blues prepared to fly to Launceston to face Hawthorn on Sunday.
The young spearhead missed last week’s drought-breaking victory over the Western Bulldogs with bone bruising in his knee.
Curnow had a breakout season last year but has made a quiet start to 2019, booting two goals from three games.
“He’s had some interruptions so we’ll give him right to the death knock to see if he comes up,” coach Brendon Bolton told reporters.
“I’m not going to give Charlie an out on form. He wouldn’t give himself an out … but players that don’t have good pre-seasons or interruptions, it just takes a while to settle.
“The one thing whether it be teams or individuals, continuity is critical at AFL level.”
Bolton and the Blues had been under enormous pressure after starting the season 0-4 but with young stars on every line, there is optimism at Ikon Park that the convincing victory over the Bulldogs will be a circuit-breaker.
The next challenge for Carlton is backing it up, having not claimed back-to-back wins since round 13, 2017.
“We think we’ve had relatively strong performances all year,” Bolton said.
“What changed is the effort was maintained on the weekend but we had more finish with our plays. We need to maintain all the effort indicators and continue to finish.
“If we can do that and focus more on the process than the result, hopefully it goes our way.”
Carlton’s forward line delivered its most convincing performance during the win over the Bulldogs, led by 21-year-old Harry McKay’s four goals and 11 marks.
Bolton is confident McKay, Curnow and Mitch McGovern can continue to build cohesion, noting that the tall trio are still learning their craft.
“We think we can play with the talls. It’s about making sure they’re all on different layers,” he said.
“It’s more an awkward look when we’re not presenting at the ball and we’re all on top of each other. Sometimes when youngsters muck up those patterns, that’s what you see.”