Blues' investigation into raft of soft-tissues finds "unfortunate" circumstances

Carlton's injury list is the league's most substantial at Round 8 and has been that way for much of 2024.

Michael Voss was missing as many as 11 of his best 22 in last week's loss to Geelong. Injuries such as the ruptured ACLs that have corrupted Sam Docherty and Jack Silvagni can't be prevented and largely come down to luck and genetics, but five Blues were battling hamstring injuries for the Cats clash, with midfielder Adam Cerra the only one returning on Friday night against Collingwood.

"I think we've had four or five hamstrings, we've been most concerned about that," Blues CEO Brian Cook admitted on AFL Nation.

Jack Martin, Mitch McGovern, Adam Saad and Jesse Motlop are all unavailable for Round 8 due to hamstring concerns, with McGovern the only Blue in that group expected to return in the near future.

Cook admitted the club is none the wiser over the specific cause despite an extensive review.

"To be honest, there is no clear reasoning behind what is happening. We've had a really good look, we've looked at our program and training, our players - some are more resilient than others - is it a resilience issue with players, is it our football program, or a combination of both? No doubt it's a combination of both and we're just trying to identify how best we can get through this now," he added.

The Blues are getting too big for Marvel Stadium... and are now looking for AFL approval to play more games at the @MCG, says CEO Brian Cook. @1116sen | #AFLBluesPies pic.twitter.com/EOTHUBsXIg

— AFL Nation (@AFLNation) May 3, 2024

But the Blues boss did throw his support behind Russell, who was appointed in 2018 and has played a role in premierships at Essendon, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn earlier in the 21st century.

"If you do get a new person (fitness boss), they inherit the same players," Cook noted.

"It's a tough one. Jack Russell has a very, very strong reputation at our footy club and he's well-liked and we think he's doing a great job.

"It's just unfortunate we've had the same players getting injured two or three years in a row. It's just unfortunate."

McGovern is set to be available as early as next week's Thursday night blockbuster against Melbourne, with Cerra, David Cuningham (calf) and Orazio Fantasia (illness) returning to face the Magpies.