CARLTON is hopeful tall forwards Harry McKay and Mitch McGovern will make the trip to Perth to play Hawthorn next Friday night as both face injury concerns.
McKay was a late withdrawal from Saturday's win over North Melbourne after hyperextending his knee at training two days earlier, while McGovern sat out the second half with hamstring tightness.
FULL MATCH COVERAGE Kangaroos v Blues
Blues' coach David Teague was non-committal on either, playing down the severity of their respective problems.
He said McGovern was a "wait and see" after the former Crow did not return after half-time.
"They are the ones where it depends how they pull up," Teague said.
"We are hopeful it's not too bad. It’s just tightness at this stage."
ROUNDS 8-12 Check out the full fixture
More mystery surrounds McKay.
The young forward had an anomaly with his COVID-19 test on Wednesday, forcing him to sit out Thursday's team training session while he waited for the all-clear.
Once that came through, McKay did some solo skills training with an assistant coach, where the injury occurred.
Teague said Carlton wanted to give him every chance to play, and only ruled him out on game day.
"We think it was a little hyperextension," Teague said.
"Hopefully that means that he'll be close next week.
"The hyperextension, we don't have vision of it so we're not exactly sure and he sort of just pulled up a bit sore at the end of the session he did by himself."
Carlton managed to hold off the Kangaroos' comeback to win by seven points and level its season ledger at four wins and four losses.
THE LADDER Where is your team sitting?
Teague was pleased with his team's response following Sunday's after-the-siren heartbreaker against Port Adelaide.
"I thought the players adapted really well the last couple of minutes … in terms of structure and decisions around the ball, I thought they were very good," he said.
Kangaroos coach Rhyce Shaw said despite his team's improved performance, their sixth straight loss was disappointing, particularly the five-goals-to-one first quarter.
"We showed for periods what we're all about," he said.
"The start wasn't fantastic. Again, we got jumped and are on the back foot from there.
"In saying that, I was proud the guys got back on the horse and had a crack."
One moment Shaw was not proud of was Jasper Pittard's brain explosion on three-quarter time.
The experienced half-forward cost Jared Polec a shot at goal after the siren after shoving Carlton's Marc Murphy to the ground.
"I consider us a really hard-working side and really disciplined, but that just shows a lack of discipline in that moment and it's cost us," Shaw said.
"He was spoken to. We'll just leave it at that."
