CARLTON football manager Steven Icke says the break has come at the right time for his side, with the team able to take the weekend off after the gruelling trip to Subiaco.

The Blues belted the Eagles to record their third win from the last four games, but Icke said he wasn't worried about the week off hurting momentum.

"It's good to have a week off. It is a tough road trip, as everybody who has to endure it knows," he said. Icke is one of the ones who knows, having done several years as part of the Fremantle hierarchy, and thus flying across the country every second week.

"The boys were pretty keen for a week off, just to recharge the batteries, and you set yourself for the first seven weeks of the year knowing that you've got this break coming, and so a lot of the boys' bodies were desperately in need of a weekend off.

"And with such a young squad, you can never give them enough breaks through the year, because they do get tired, so from their point-of-view it was also timely."

Skipper Chris Judd's rolled ankle is fine after the win on Friday night, but Icke said the lack of a pre-season was still hampering the superstar after a groin operation in the off-season.

"With his op, I think he's getting back to full fitness – the thing that he's missing is a full pre-season. The actual injury that he's recovering from is pretty good, it's just now that he's got to get some mileage in the legs to give him the condition he needs to be able to play at the level he wants to play at."

Icke said he was hopeful that Richard Hadley would have recovered from his groin injury in time to play his old side Brisbane in round eight, but that the team would be careful with Adam Hartlett who is recovering from a hamstring injury.