Star Carlton midfielder Patrick Cripps has been cleared of any structural damage to his injured right foot, but he faces a race to be fit for Saturday's clash with Geelong at the MCG.
Cripps suffered the injury in last week's 16-point win against the Dockers when his foot thumped into an opponent's leg during an attempted snap on goal.
The Blues skipper played out the match in discomfort, with subsequent scans clearing him of serious injury.
Cripps will have to pass a fitness test later this week if he is to be cleared to face Geelong.
"Structurally, the foot is fine and the MRI was clear. He's got some inflammation in his foot," Carlton's director of high performance Andrew Russell said.
"We'll test him later in the week to see whether he's good enough to play this week."
The Blues could welcome back Zac Fisher (ankle) and Will Setterfield (hand) for the crunch match, while Zac Williams will slot back in after serving his one-match ban.
"'Fish' has missed the last couple of weeks. He trained today and looked great. He'll train on Thursday and we fully expect him to be available to play this week," Russell said.
"'Setters' has had a really strong block of training, we've pushed him really hard.
"He's tapped back into some pre-season fitness which is good for him, and we expect him to be available to play as well this week."
Geelong will be without star spearhead Jeremy Cameron, who has been ruled out for several weeks with a hamstring injury.
Blues forward Charlie Curnow, whose last AFL match was in round 15, 2019, is nearing a return to VFL action after overcoming a long list of knee issues.
"Those who have watched training have been really excited by Charlie, he's moving really well," Russell said.
"He's coming to the back-end of that month's block of conditioning that he needed to play.
"He'll continue with that training block and is a chance to play VFL in the upcoming weeks."
