Carlton recruit Mitch McGovern suffers back injury in final training session of 2018

It’s been a horror run on the injury front for Carlton, with key off-season recruit Mitch McGovern the latest player to be struck down. He joins co-captain Sam Docherty and forward Jarrod Pickett on the sidelines.

Mitch McGovern suffered a back injury at Carlton training. Picture: Getty Images

Carlton has suffered a third pre-season injury blow in a matter of weeks with boom recruit Mitch McGovern sustaining a small, non-displaced fracture of the back in a training session on Thursday.

But the Blues are confident the injury won’t impact on his campaign heading towards the 2019 season.

The former Crow, who joined Carlton in a trade in October, was taken for scans on Friday, and is expected to only miss training during the AFL’s mandatory three-week shutdown.

BAD BLOW: BLUES CONFIRM SECOND HORROR INJURY

NEW DEAL: YOUNG GUN SIGNS EXTENSION WITH BLUES

Carlton head of football Brad Lloyd said the club was hoping that the 23-year-old forward would be back on track in mid-January.

“Scans conducted (on Friday) revealed there was a small, non-displaced fracture,” Lloyd said.

“Often with this type of injury players can miss one or two games during the season, while for others it’s not uncommon to not miss any at all.

Mitch McGovern suffered a back injury at Carlton training. Picture: Getty Images

“Mitch will obviously continue to be monitored during this next period, however we’re confident he’ll be back training with the rest of the team following the Christmas break.”

The Blues have already had to deal with the heartbreaking news that co-captain Sam Docherty suffered another pre-season ACL injury at training earlier this month, following on from the knee injury he had 12 months earlier.

He will almost certainly miss the entire 2019 season.

And this week forward Jarrod Pickett ruptured his patella tendon after a training mishap and will miss four to six months.