Carlton will have to continue their surprising AFL resurgence without Marc Murphy, with the club resigned to losing their skipper to an ankle injury for at least two weeks.
Murphy left Sunday's game against Geelong in the first quarter after badly rolling an ankle, his absence making the Blues' win over the Cats even more impressive.
The 28-year-old will undergo further scans to get a better understanding of the severity of the injury but appears set to miss matches against Brisbane and St Kilda in the next fortnight.
"Obviously we want to get him back as soon as possible," teammate Zach Tuohy said.
"He's our captain and he's led us well all year and in fact he's led (well) under scrutiny for a few years now.
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"The sooner we can get him back the better."
Carlton lost their first four games under new coach Brendon Bolton but have stormed up the ladder with five wins from their past six matches.
The Blues are well ahead of where many observers felt last year's wooden spooners might be so early in an extensive rebuild of the club's playing list.
Tuohy can understand why his team's upswing in form might surprise some after they managed just four wins in total last season.
Despite their resurgence, the defender said it was way too early to be talking about a possible finals berth.
"As long as it's mathematically possible then it's possible but we haven't looked anywhere near the end of the year just yet," he said.
"Every player plays footy because they want to be successful and reach that ultimate goal ... it's certainly nice to have those questions (about finals) thrown at you as opposed to (questions) about why you're finishing on the bottom.
"It's a good position for us to be in ... we're really excited."
