AFL 2020: Carlton could lose Matthew Kreuzer for entire season

Matthew Kreuzer is Carlton’s first choice ruckman when fit but a long-term footy injury has put clouds over the former number one draft pick’s future

Matthew Kreuzer limps off after injuring his foot against Richmond in round one. Pictiure: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Carlton coach David Teague wants to give ruckman Matthew Kreuzer “every chance” of playing again this season but has conceded it may not happen.

Kreuzer fractured the fifth metatarsal in his foot in round one against Richmond and was listed to miss 16 weeks. That was 20 weeks ago and the 189-gamer is no closer to resuming training.

“He has been progressing pretty well. It was a bit of a nasty injury … we sent him to use the AlterG machine,” Teague said on Friday.

“Now he has come back up (to Queensland) with his family. We will have to reassess when he gets back with the whole group where he is tracking but, to be honest, I am not sure if he will get back this year, but we will give him every chance.”

Kreuzer, 31, hasn’t played more than 15 matches in any of the past two seasons because of injury.

He is off contract at the end of the season, and the Blues are yet to decide if he will be offered a new deal with Marc Pittonet emerging as a capable replacement

“To be honest, we haven’t got that far. We don’t even know what list sizes are,” he said.

“Matthew has been a great player for us, and what I have loved about him this year is he has stepped into a ruck coaching role when we had to release a few of our staff. One of ours was our ruck coach (Hamish McIntosh) and Matthew Kreuzer took over,” Teague said.

“He has been great, the work he has done with Pitto and Tom De Koning and Callum Moore has been outstanding.”

"We haven't handled momentum swings well: we need to be better."

Here's what David Teague had to say in today's press conference.#OwnTheFuture

— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) August 7, 2020

The Blues are in 13th spot with a 4-5 record but were four points away from that being 6-3 after losses to Melbourne by one point and Port Adelaide by three.

Their season is in the balance, with clashes against West Coast and Fremantle in Perth in the next two weeks which could determine their finals fate.

The Blues have not made the finals since 2013, and Teague said playing good footy, not finals, remained their aim.

“We feel every week we go out there, even this week we feel we can go out there to win. If we keep going out there and playing, and when we play near our best, we have been quite competitive and quite strong,” he said.

“That’s what we are aiming to do – to play our style of footy and play near our best. If we do that, we think that we are going to be a chance in every game. If we win enough games to make finals, that’s ideal, that’s what we would love to do, but we are looking to get better and improving every week.”