Sam Walsh near certain to make comeback in AFL Gather Round

Carlton coach Michael Voss has revealed exactly when he thinks star midfielder Sam Walsh will make his return from injury.

Sam Walsh is near certain to return from a back injury next Thursday night. Picture: Michael Willson

Carlton coach Michael Voss says he expects star midfielder Sam Walsh to play in next Thursday night’s clash against Adelaide to open Gather Round.

Walsh again trained fully on Wednesday and is believed to have put his hand up to play against North Melbourne on Friday, with Carlton needing to replace suspended wingman Blake Acres.

But Voss said the Blues would not deviate from their plan to reintroduce Walsh to the AFL after he had back surgery in December and would remain “steadfast” in giving him another week to prepare for his return.

“We’ve taken a pretty steady approach and he’s had some milestones that he’s had to achieve, and we’ve stuck to those milestones,” Voss said.

Sam Walsh is on track to return from his back injury in time for Thursday night’s Gather Round opener against Adelaide. Picture: Michael Klein

“One of those last milestones was being able to train again fully – (Wednesday) he was able to do that.

“Barring him not pulling up well from that particular session, which I’m led to believe he’s OK, he’ll play next week.”

Carlton will again be without Matt Kennedy after he missed round 3 with a calf problem, with Voss saying he expected Kennedy and Jack Martin, who also has a calf concern, to be available for the Crows clash alongside Walsh.

“(Kennedy) fell just a little bit short, but he’ll be available next week,” Voss said

“He wasn’t able to get the required work in yesterday, so we just take a pretty low risk approach to it, another person needs to be able to step up and get the job done.”

Matthew Kennedy will miss a second week in a row with a calf complaint. Picture: Daniel Pockett / Getty Images

Lochie O’Brien looms as the likely replacement for Acres in the Blues’ starting 22 against the Kangaroos after three consecutive substitute appearances to begin the season.

Voss said North’s backline personnel issues would not necessarily mean the Blues target their star key forwards Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow in a different way.

He said they were still trying to get the pair better quality supply inside forward 50, with McKay only managing 2.4 from three games so far this season despite marking the ball strongly higher up the ground.

“What our challenge is do we get them the same opportunities, and what’s the quality of those opportunities,” Voss said.

“There’s also the quality that we need to give them, so a lot of energy has got to go into that – otherwise if we ignore it and expect that’s what is just going to happen, then we’ll come up short.”