Carlton coach Mick Malthouse says he wouldn’t be opposed to scrapping practice matches over the pre-season to try and limit injuries in the lead-up to Round 1.

A number of star footballers including Blues Chris Judd and Andrew Carrazzo will miss the season opener, after suffering injuries during pre-season training.

While Malthouse concedes that doing away with a pre-season competition may not be practical, he admits it is a time when players can be prone to injury.

“It’s not uncommon in modern football to have a lot of good footballers sitting in the grandstand for Round 1,” Malthouse told radio 5AA.  

“But we have to live with that and you’ve got to look at the positives. Sometimes there’s going to be a door open for a young kid to jump in and play a few games before his time, but it does him the world of good.

“I played a couple of kids on the weekend (and) they’ve jumped up into contention for the game. I’m delighted to say that because I had no intention of really playing any more than one, now I’ve got two or three who are really pushing for selection.”

Meanwhile, Malthouse has predicted the opening round of the season will produce some “really strange” results, which he believes will be fantastic for the game.