CARLTON coach Michael Voss has hailed his side's resilience to overcome a number of COVID-19 hurdles and beat the Western Bulldogs last week as a sign of the club's progress under new leadership.
Voss, who returned from the AFL's health and safety protocols last Friday, watched the game wired into the coaches' box from his home as assistant Ash Hansen led the side in his absence.
The Blues, who were also without playing duo Adam Cerra and Jack Martin as well as assistant coach Tim Clarke and football boss Brad Lloyd, shot into a 37-point lead before the Dogs rallied and narrowed the margin to just two goals in the final term.
However, despite last year's Grand Finalists winning the territory battle amid a nervous and frantic last quarter, Carlton held on to improve its record to 2-0 for the final time in nearly a decade.
"It was horrible," Voss said on Tuesday.
"It wasn't the greatest, sitting there watching. I had everything available, the deluxe version of watching football, but when it got into the last quarter and the result was on the line it wasn't the best experience I've ever had in my life.
"I'm just really proud of the club. We had to make a lot of adjustments throughout the week. It was probably more to do with the staff than anyone else. But the players got on with the job and the staff knew the job ahead of them. They did it magnificently.
"I think it speaks volumes to the progress we've made in a few areas. One of it has been in resilience. They adapted well and walked away with a good victory against a good opposition."
Martin returned to the club over the weekend and trained fully on Tuesday, while Cerra is expected to leave health and safety protocols later this week, with both set to be fit to face an unbeaten Hawthorn this Sunday.
"Martin and Cerra will be available," Voss said.
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"Obviously, we haven't had selection yet. But I think we can safely say they'll both be up for selection. They'll become available. What we do as an adjustment off the back of it, we obviously haven't had team selection yet.
"We think (Cerra) will be fine. We've already got the clearance in that regard. We've been in a little text message to-and-fro, but he's fine. He's been largely unaffected, so we think he'll be ready to go."
Carlton will be forced into a defensive change for its clash against Hawthorn, with Oscar McDonald ruled out having suffered back spasms last Thursday night that forced him to be substituted at half-time.
New recruit Lewis Young is in line to replace McDonald in what will be his club debut following a trade from the Western Bulldogs last October, while Lachie Plowman and Luke Parks will also come under consideration.
The Blues expect fellow defender Caleb Marchbank to recover from an ACL injury sustained in April midway through the year, while midfielder David Cuningham enjoyed his first session with the main group on Tuesday after rupturing his ACL in May.