CARLTON coach Michael Voss is hopeful the Blues have dodged serious injuries to key tall duo Marc Pittonet and Harry McKay from Saturday night's 35-point loss to Fremantle.
Pittonet was subbed out of the game in the first quarter after a heavy clash of knees with Fremantle's ruckman Sean Darcy, with initial fears of a PCL injury.
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Reigning Coleman Medal winner McKay struggled throughout the game with a knee complaint, managing only three disposals, no marks and one goal.
"McKay had a grumble," Voss told reporters after the game. "We'll have a look at that. I am not sure what that actually is.
"It was certainly affecting some of his movement tonight and his ability to get up and down the ground. He got through and hope whatever is affecting him is quite minor.
"We'll get (Pittonet) assessed on Monday, but we feel it's a significant corkie at this stage. We tried to get him going but he just wasn't able to run.
"It's on the front of his knee, so he wasn't able to get going. Really hoping we have dodged further damage there."
Tom De Koning battled manfully in Pittonet's absence, but the Blues were smashed 50-18 in hitouts. Carlton has few back-up ruck options on their list beyond De Koning with 22-year-old rookie Alex Mirkov still developing.
Voss refused to blame the early loss of Pittonet for Saturday night's loss, praising Fremantle's pressure around the ball while he brushed off pinpointing another ordinary third quarter where his side managed 2.2 to the Dockers' 4.3.
"We couldn't quite get flow in our game across the night," Voss said. "Couldn't get the ball in good enough positions on the field often enough.
"Credit to Freo's pressure around the ball. Their ability to keep the ball in their half was a real strength of theirs. It challenged us for most of the night.
Voss added: "I don't think it was really a quarter. We had periods through each quarter that we were able to get the game in our favour and there was a large part of the game that was in an arm wrestle.
"Our ability to capitalise on that and take our opportunity, but also when the moment required, to be able to defend long enough to keep the scoreboard in a real arm wrestle was difficult to achieve."
Voss added that he was hopeful Matthew Kennedy (soreness) and Jack Silvagni (ankle) would be available for their round seven game with North Melbourne.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was typically low key about the win which improves the Dockers' record to 5-1, sitting second on the table ahead of a big task away to Geelong next week.
"You’ve got to enjoy the journey in footy," he said. "It becomes a long year if you don’t enjoy the wins. We’ll anchor and move on at the right time.
"I’ve been really impressed with the maturity of the group. Their ability to come to work on Monday, review and move on has been first class. This is no different. We’ve got a massive challenge next week."
Longmuir said Hayden Young and Heath Chapman were expected out of health and safety protocols on Thursday, with the team to travel east on the same day for Saturday's game with the Cats.
The Dockers indicated Lloyd Meek would likely come in for Sean Darcy who was subbed out and has entered concussion protocols.
Longmuir also praised his small forwards led by Lachie Schultz who kicked three goals with nine score involvements, while Michael Walters and Sam Switkowski grabbed two majors each.
"They’ve been relentless with their buy-in to their pressure," Longmuir said. "We’re not relying on one or two players with our pressure. When it’s a certain player’s turn to hunt their man, they’re doing it."
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