Injured Carlton captain Marc Murphy is eyeing a return to AFL in round 20, when the Blues take on St Kilda.

The skipper strained ligaments in his right ankle in the Blues’ round-10 win over Geelong but initially hoped he’d only miss a few weeks.

“Over the last four or five weeks people have been calling me `Mark three weeks away Murphy’,” he told RSN radio on Wednesday.

“I’ve started to run now and [am] stepping that up. It depends how I go over the next week or two, how I pull up and how I get through ball training.”

Returning for the round 19-clash against Hawthorn would be a big ask but Murphy hopes to be right for the St Kilda game on August 7.