Star midfielder Sam Walsh will only return from his back injury next round, with Carlton forced to cover for his absence against North Melbourne on Friday.
Walsh hasn't played this season after surgery in December but coach Michael Voss said he'd figure in their plans for next Thursday's clash with Adelaide after completing a full training session on Wednesday.
The Blues could have done with his services in the middle against the Kangaroos, especially with winger Blake Acres suspended and Matt Kennedy failing to prove his fitness after a calf niggle.
But Voss resisted the temptation to rush back Walsh despite his recent progress.
"We've taken a pretty steady approach and he's had some milestones that he's had to achieve and we've stuck to those," he said.
"One of those last milestones was being able to train again fully (on Wednesday), he was able to do that.
"So barring him not pulling up well from that particular session, which I'm led to believe he's okay, he'll play next week."
But North have their own personnel issues with suspended Griffin Logue joining the injured Ben McKay on the sidelines to create a gaping hole in their key defensive stocks.
It leaves no obvious candidates to match up on Carlton's pair of Coleman medallists - Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow - as the Blues shoot for a third-straight win.
Voss acknowledged the potential mismatch but said it can't change how they go about their football.
"We're not going to necessarily change our structure for it," he said.
"Our challenge is do we give them the same opportunity and what's the quality of those opportunities?
"(McKay and Curnow) will go about their own business ... to try and get the advantage in that particular part of the ground, but there's also the quality that we need to give them.
"If we ignore it and expect that's just what's going to happen then we'll come up short."
North impressed in their first two games under Alastair Clarkson but went missing last weekend against Hawthorn, beaten by 19 points in a game they looked poised to make it three straight wins to start the season.
But the Roos get gun midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke back from injury and Voss expected them to come out looking for a response.
"What's really clear is when you watch them back is the identity they want to play," he said.
"They probably didn't get it exactly the way they wanted it last week, but we expect them to be quite ferocious.
"They've got some real strengths around the ball that we have to be mindful of and they've got some real threats up forward."
