CARLTON captain Marc Murphy has trained lightly ahead of Saturday's clash with Adelaide at the MCG, fuelling doubt over whether the midfielder is fully over the calf tightness that kept him from playing last week.
Murphy was absent from the Blues' side that went down to the Sydney Swans on Friday night after travelling with the team and having a light run the day before the game.
He was named to return this week but rarely escalated from a jog on Friday at training, after starting his session away from the main group on an oval adjacent to Ikon Park.
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Troy Menzel - who was named on Thursday night despite being subbed out last week - was also part of the mini hit-out with his knee heavily strapped.
Murphy joined in with his teammates midway through their brief session and took part in some ball work before finishing off with some goal kicking and leaving the track before the end of the session.
Veteran Chris Judd, who also missed last week, did stationary drills with Kade Simpson, Andrew Carrazzo and Dale Thomas, who won't face the Crows because of a toe injury.
Judd didn't play against the Swans because of knee soreness.
Caretaker coach John Barker said before Friday's session Judd was ready to go and Murphy would play if he got through training.
He also said there would be no restrictions on Matthew Kreuzer with the ruckman ready to return for his first AFL game since round one last year after three VFL hit-outs.
"We don't expect him to win the game off his own boot but we know he's going to give strong effort and he'll stand up based on the values that we stand for," Barker said.
"I'm sure he'll be a little bit anxious but what overcomes anxiousness is effort and attack on the ball, and he brings that in spades.
"He's an outstanding inclusion. He's a wonderful Carlton person with determination, work ethic and sets a great example so it's great to have him back out there."
Chris Yarran is expected to line up in the VFL on the weekend after being dropped for one game due to repeatedly arriving late to training.
He will be available for selection after the Blues' bye next weekend.
Barker admitted the decision to act on Yarran's tardiness could leave them vulnerable against the Crows but said it was more important to act on ill discipline.
"There's a level of standard we need to stay accountable to, and he understands it fully. In fact, we had a good discussion about it and it was almost his decision that we stay really accountable to what we stand for," he said.
"In terms of his footy, he's been very good for us. In terms of standards … there's a set of standards we have and he didn't quite meet them this week.
"We compromise our ability to compete really well this week with him not being in but if we don't stay accountable to a level of standard, we compromise our future and our ability to be a good team going forward."
