DESPITE the large gulf between the two sides on the premiership ladder, Carlton coach Brett Ratten is wary of the danger that talent-laden Hawthorn represents.

The Blues have beaten credentialed opponents Geelong, St Kilda and Port Adelaide in recent weeks, but won't be taking the 14th-placed Hawks lightly at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

"I think they would have got a fair bit of confidence from getting the four points [against Richmond last week], so it's another big challenge," Ratten said from Visy Park on Thursday.

"I think their form is a lot better than people give them credit for. They've had five games within 16 points or less whether it's a win or a loss.

"Teams talk about having A-graders on their list … they put Shaun Burgoyne in there as well and he's an A-grader so they've got a star-studded team with quality all over."

With Jarrad Waite suspended for two weeks, Ratten flagged a forward-line shake-up that could see both Lachie Henderson and Robbie Warnock come into the side.

"Henderson is an option for us and also the combination of maybe bringing Warnock in and allowing (Matthew) Kreuzer to play forward," he said.

"We're going through that debate now and at match committee I think [forwards coach] Matty Lappin will be pushing for Kreuzer forward, and Mark Riley and Robert Harvey will be asking for him to stay in the midfield."

Boom youngster Kane Lucas will miss with a hamstring strain while Ryan Houlihan will be given until the last minute to prove he is over a similar injury.

Brock McLean is no chance of a recall with a quad strain continuing to trouble him. The former Demon has not played since round six when he suffered a hip injury, but Ratten denied there was anything sinister in his continued absence and dismissed surgery as an option to speed his return.

Eight games into the season, the Blues are proving surprise packets given gloomy predictions outside the club in the pre-season.

Despite that, Ratten maintains it is a weekly battle for the coaches and players to find the level of consistency required to hold their position inside the eight.

He concedes, however, that progress continues to be made and threw up last week's pre-game warm-up as an example.

"We saw last week, which I give the group huge praise for … they initially thought they were 'off' after the warm-up outside and they spoke about that as a group," he said.

"You might have seen in our first six or seven minutes in the game we got dominated by Port, but give credit where credit's due; they tried to turn it around and address it.

"We had a similar scenario against Essendon and that went for four quarters, but we found that last week it went for about eight minutes.

"I think there's been a huge improvement mentally from the group."