A THREADBARE Carlton could be forced to blood multiple debutants for its must-win clash against West Coast this weekend, pending a fitness test on Friday for Orazio Fantasia.
The depleted Blues will be forced into making six changes for the trip to Optus Stadium after it was confirmed that Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay, Jack Martin, Adam Saad, Jordan Boyd and Lachie Fogarty would all be sidelined.
The club's teenage mid-season recruit Cooper Lord has already been confirmed to debut, though he could be joined by more untried youngsters due to the length of the side's injury crisis.
With the injury list now 17-strong going into the season's final fortnight, there is a significant chance Carlton coach Michael Voss will only have 11 fit players to pick from when attempting to replace his six fresh absentees.
Of those 11, only three – Lewis Young, Jack Carroll and Corey Durdin – have started an AFL match before, while a fourth – Jaxon Binns – has made one solitary AFL appearance as a substitute.
Fantasia could give Voss another option to choose from, though the small forward recruit has missed the last five games with a calf injury amid a season where he's been held goalless in nine of 13 matches.
Young and Carroll are certainties to face West Coast, having not played VFL last weekend as holdover emergencies, with Carlton to consider whether Mitch McGovern or Brodie Kemp also plays forward in the absence of Curnow and McKay.
Durdin is expected to replace Fogarty in a small forward role, though even he only made his comeback from a six-week shoulder injury through the VFL last weekend on managed minutes.
Binns is also set to earn his first AFL start, with Lord named to debut on Wednesday after impressing since joining the side in May. He finished with 30 disposals, six clearances and nine tackles in the VFL over the weekend.
The club's No.29 pick from last year's draft, Ashton Moir, is another who could be called upon for a debut as a small forward in a move that could necessitate Zac Williams' return to a defensive post to replace Saad and Boyd.
Billy Wilson, taken at pick No.34 last year, is another debut option to replace Saad and Boyd's productivity across half-back, after claiming 19 disposals in a VFL win over Geelong last weekend.
Harry Lemmey, the club's youthful 201cm key-position player, has also shown promising signs in a defensive post at VFL level and will be another debut chance if the side wishes to move either McGovern or Kemp forward.
But the Blues could err on the side of caution when selecting key-position players, given the Bureau of Meteorology is currently predicting up to 35mm of rain in Perth on Saturday and a further 15mm on Sunday.
Athletic ruck Alex Mirkov, Category B rookie Dom Akuei and Irish youngster Rob Monahan are the only other options for Carlton, though any chance of a debut for the club's trio of project players appears slim.
However, it's likely that one of those three would have to act among the side's emergencies if Fantasia can't prove his fitness, with Carlton a genuine chance to have only two AFL-listed players miss out on its 26-man squad.
The club's injury woes could mean a suddenly youthful Blues outfit features as many as 14 players with under 100 games of experience, as it battles to keep its fading finals hopes alive.
Carlton has used a total of 35 players this season, with 22 of those missing four matches or more due to form or fitness. Just four – Patrick Cripps, Nic Newman, Matt Kennedy and Matt Owies – would have played every game after this weekend.
The Blues also used only 49 rotations in last Sunday's bruising defeat to the Hawks, only one fewer than a record set by the Lions earlier this season for the least interchange rotations used since the cap was reduced to 75 in 2021.
It leaves the ninth-placed Carlton's finals hopes hanging by a thread, needing to beat West Coast and St Kilda in the season's last fortnight – and hope that results elsewhere go its way – to qualify for finals.
The Blues hope that Curnow (ankle), McKay (quad), Martin (hamstring) and Saad (hamstring) could all return next week, but Fogarty (collarbone) will miss the rest of the season while Boyd (adductor) will also struggle to get back.
Matt Cottrell (shoulder), David Cuningham (shoulder), Sam Docherty (knee) and Jack Silvagni (knee) are also set to miss the remainder of the year, while Tom De Koning (foot) won’t return before any potential finals campaign.
Matt Carroll (groin) has missed the entire season, while Adam Cerra (hamstring), Sam Durdin (calf), Fantasia (calf), Caleb Marchbank (concussion) and Hudson O'Keeffe (hamstring) are more recent additions to the side's injury headaches.
The Blues subsequently have 1520 games worth of experience on their 17-man injury list this week, almost 400 games more than the Cats in second and exactly 1300 more than the injury-free Hawks.
It's culminated in Carlton dropping five of its last six matches to dramatically fall from the AFL's top-eight heading into the last two games, having sat two games clear in second barely two months ago.
CARLTON INJURY LIST
Jordan Boyd (Adductor) 3-6 weeks
Matt Carroll (Groin) Indefinite
Adam Cerra (Hamstring) TBC
Matt Cottrell (Shoulder) Season
David Cuningham (Shoulder) Season
Charlie Curnow (Ankle) 1-2 weeks
Tom De Koning (Foot) 3-4 weeks
Sam Docherty (Knee) Season
Sam Durdin (Calf) 1-3 weeks
Orazio Fantasia (Calf) Test
Lachie Fogarty (Collarbone) Season
Caleb Marchbank (Concussion) 1-2 weeks
Jack Martin (Hamstring) 1-2 weeks
Harry McKay (Quad) 1-2 weeks
Hudson O'Keeffe (Hamstring) 1-2 weeks
Adam Saad (Hamstring) 1-2 weeks
Jack Silvagni (Knee) Season
