The most experienced coach in AFL history could not recall the last time he made seven changes to his side.
"You would want it to be pretty rare," said Mick Malthouse on Friday ahead of struggling Carlton's clash with the in-form GWS Giants.
And the temptation would have been very great to make it eight.
Instead Malthouse will give star ruck-forward Matthew Kreuzer one more week in the seconds to regain form and fitness before a likely senior recall in round seven against Geelong.
Kreuzer played only one AFL match last year after undergoing surgery on his right foot and suffered another big setback in February when he was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in the same foot.
"I would love to have had Kreuzer in the side this week," Malthouse said.
"If you pick the name, you pick Kreuzer.
"But if you pick the name and you associate it with how much football he's missed, 18 months or thereabouts, then you've got to pull back and say 'no, it's not the name that you pick, it's the player'.
"Names don't save you out on the football field.
"But with another week under his belt he'll be under massive consideration regardless of how we play tomorrow because he's a quality player, he's a good leader and he's got the experience of being a great competitor."
After being selected by Carlton with the No.1 pick in the 2007 national draft, a string of injuries has limited the luckless Kreuzer to just 106 senior games.
Sitting second-bottom on the ladder, the battling Blues will field a significantly stronger side against the Giants than the one which handed Brisbane a first victory of the season last week.
Chris Yarran has served a three-match suspension for striking Essendon's Paul Chapman while Andrew Carrazzo and Simon White both return from injury.
Among those to make way is much-maligned forward Liam Jones, whose travails in front of goal were writ large late in the match against the Lions, when he failed to make the distance from 40 metres out.
"I expected that he would pick up our structures quicker, but he's very aware of that," said Malthouse of former Western Bulldogs' forward Jones.
"He has kicked 6.10 and about three out on the full in six weeks - close to 20 shots.
"If he nails close to 60 per cent of those ... that's a good outcome.
"So he hasn't been as bad as what you think."
In stark contrast to the much-revamped Carlton lineup, the settled Giants will take an unchanged side into Saturday's clash at Etihad Stadium where they will look to improve on a 4-2 win-loss record.
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