CARLTON suffered a massive blow when skipper Marc Murphy withdrew late from the side that lost by 86 points to North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena on Saturday night, and will be waiting anxiously for updates during the week as to the severity of the injury.

Murphy aggravated an injury to the plantar fascia in his left foot during the on-field warm-up and struggled to put any weight on it as he gingerly attempted a couple of run throughs, before heading to the rooms to be replaced by Nick Graham.

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton didn’t speculate on how long the Blues might be without Murphy, however, he did tell reporters the club captain was bitterly disappointed to bow out in such circumstances.

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"He's a competitor, so missing and being the captain would have really frustrated him," Bolton said.

While Murphy's loss so close to the start of the game was obviously significant, particularly to the Blues' midfield, Bolton refused to use it as an excuse for the heavy loss.

"Significant impact, he's our captain, organises a lot of things and we lost him in the warm-up unfortunately," he said.

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"One player can’t be the defining factor in a win or a loss, we'll make no excuses around that."

Carlton football manager Andrew McKay had earlier confirmed the injury to Murphy's left foot and said the skipper will have further scans next week.

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The Blues made the call to replace him five minutes before the opening bounce.

Graham came in as his replacement and Murphy was captured on television wearing a moon boot and looking dejected in the Carlton rooms on a dirty night for the club.