Carlton coach Mick Malthouse is hopeful rather than positive about ruckman Matthew Kreuzer’s chances of overcoming a bruised calf and playing in Saturday night’s AFL knockout semi-final against Sydney.
The Blues had a closed session on Wednesday and the coach was giving little away about Kreuzer’s fitness.
“He trained … in some capacity,” said Malthouse.
“Matthew is part of that, as are other players who in a six-day break need to be managed.
“I’m extremely hopeful.
“Am I positive? I’m not positive about anyone really because that’s just the nature of the game as we saw with Brock McLean last week.
“I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t play. Put it that way.”
Onballer McLean was a late withdrawal during the warm-up on Sunday for the elimination final against Richmond at the MCG as he continues to recover from a thigh injury.
Malthouse said McLean had not re-injured himself and would be assessed later this week.
Carlton trailed by more than five goals during the third term against the Tigers and surged to a 20-point win, while defending premiers Sydney limped to a 54-point loss to Hawthorn in last Friday’s qualifying final.
The big decision this week for the Swans is whether to call up under-done champion Adam Goodes, who has been sidelined since round 13 with an injured knee.
Malthouse expected Goodes would play in the ANZ Stadium encounter, adding he thought the Swans may have eased up late in their game against the Hawks with one eye on the following week’s semi-final.
“You can build some confidence out of over-running a side, which our players have done over the last three or four weeks,” Malthouse said.
“Psychologically Hawthorn, once they had built up their lead, Sydney were probably in their own minds thinking it’s a long way back, conserve energy for next week.
“So I don’t know if that was a 50-point loss in reality.
“We get some confidence out it, but we also are realists to know that finals football is so totally different.”