CARLTON coach Brendon Bolton is open to getting involved in negotiations to keep out-of-contract captain Marc Murphy at the Blues beyond this season.
There has been regular external commentary that Murphy, who turns 31 in July, would be wiser to move on from Ikon Park in search of success in the twilight of his career.
But Bolton is adamant the 240-game midfielder is a required player at the club, although Carlton officials said the same thing about Bryce Gibbs before relenting late in last year's trade period.
"He's a really valued and wanted player – he's our captain," Bolton told reporters.
"We know what a quality ball user (he is), and he said he loves Carlton, so he'd be working through that now with his management and our footy club, but if I'm required in (those negotiations), I will.
"We're not talking about losing Marc Murphy at the moment, so that one doesn't come into the equation.
"Bryce loved our footy club – we've been over that. He needed and was required to go back to Adelaide because of family circumstances, but he loved our footy club, so that's why that happened."
Murphy is set for another extended stint on the sidelines after disrupting scar tissue in last week's 109-point loss to Melbourne, which was his first game back from five weeks out with plantar fasciitis.
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The Blues' reigning club champion will undergo scans on Friday to determine the damage after significant swelling prevented an earlier inspection of the setback.
The timing could hardly be worse, with Carlton already without All Australian Sam Docherty (knee), fellow backman Caleb Marchbank (ankle) and Levi Casboult (broken rib).
Bolton refuted a question that the Blues may have brought Murphy back too soon.
"It's a joint decision between 'Murph' and (our medicos and) he thought in his mind he's ready to go," the coach said.
"We backed that decision and we think it's the right decision."
The Curnow brothers – Charlie and Ed – return from injury and suspension, respectively, this week, on top of the recalls of demoted pair Jacob Weitering and David Cuningham.
That will help the difficult task facing Carlton on Saturday as it travels to GMHBA Stadium to take on Geelong for the first time since 1997.
Weitering's form slump early in the season gained mass attention, and Bolton elected to leave the 2015 No.1 draft pick in the VFL for three matches after initially sticking by him.
"'Weiters' understood his form was inconsistent, so he knew that going into that opportunity at VFL," Bolton said.
"He learned a lot about himself and had some really clear focuses (one-on-one defending and intercept marking) and it's not unusual for youngsters to have the VFL as part of their development.
"But with our reset, we've probably used AFL more than VFL, just through circumstance.
"He played numerous (AFL) games and there were some ups and downs in those games, but backing him in doesn't mean you're never going to play VFL."
Bolton said the onus was on the players to respond from last week's triple-digit hiding and there was a "determination" among them to do exactly that against the Cats.
He was unaware of young forward Harry McKay's decision to pat Demon defender Michael Hibberd on the head after a first-quarter goal in the lopsided loss.
Bolton also declined to confirm or deny a mid-week Fairfax report that he had restructured his contract to have a more traditional deal that expires at the end of 2020.
