Carlton are sweating on several injuries as they take hot form and their 10-goal hero Charlie Curnow into the AFL blockbuster against Collingwood. Already missing captain Patrick Cripps and fellow gun midfielder Adam Cerra, the Blues came out of Saturday's 71-point thumping of bottom side West Coast with three new casualties. Onballer Sam Walsh was vying with Curnow for best afield in the 21.14 (140) to 10.9 (69) cakewalk at Marvel Stadium before he was forced out of the game in the first half with a hamstring injury. Jack Silvagni, their best in the win over Port Adelaide last weekend, also left the game early because of a knee injury. Small forward Jesse Motlop has a calf problem, while Alex Cincotta was able to return to the game after being caught in a sling tackle that looks certain to cost former Blue Samo Petrevski-Seton a suspension. Coach Michael Voss is confident that Cripps (corked hamstring), Cerra (hamstring) and late withdrawal Jack Martin (calf) will all return for next Friday night's big MCG clash against the ladder-leading Magpies, their arch-rivals. He added that Saturday's injuries did not appear serious, but was also cautious ahead of the Monday update from the club medical staff. "With all of these, I discount nothing," Voss said. "I came in (last) Monday thinking my captain was alright and then he wasn't - I tend to wait until Monday to make those assessments." Carlton were in the midst of a six-game losing streak that threatened to end their season when Collingwood beat them by 28 points in round 10. The Blues returned to the top eight for the first time since round eight with Saturday's win and are on a five-game winning streak, all by at least 50 points. "We look somewhat different to that version. We know what's ahead of us, there's a massive challenge, but we're really looking forward to it," Voss said. "We'd like one or two back to help with the cause, but we feel like we come into this week and we have a clear identity about what we're going to bring." Voss was blunt when asked about Petreski-Seton's tackle on Cincotta, noting Jordan Boyd's three-game suspension midweek. "We obviously lost a player during the week because of it - I suspect they might be losing one as well," he said. The Blues killed off the game with 9.5 - equalling their fourth-highest score for the first quarter. The lowly Eagles, who lost Tom Barrass before the game to shoulder soreness, did not score their opening goal until early in the second term. After halftime the only interest was how many goals Curnow would kick and he brought up his 10th at 12 minutes in the last term. It is Carlton's first 10-goal bag since Stephen Kernahan in 1995. Curnow, who won the Coleman Medal last season at the league's leading goalkicker, had a one-goal lead over Adelaide's Tex Walker ahead of round 8 and now has 61 for the season. While the Eagles outscored Carlton in the second half, they also lost luckless captain Luke Shuey to another hamstring injury and were terrible early. "The start, again - it's a killer for us when we're the travelling side," said Eagles coach Adam Simpson. Australian Associated Press
