Former Carlton skipper Chris Judd insists his latest injury setback won't affect his long-term future in football.
Judd will have scans on Monday to determine the extent of a hamstring injury that he sustained in the Blues' first win of the season on Sunday over the Western Bulldogs.
In his first game for the year following Achilles surgery in February, Judd came on as a substitute during the third quarter, only to pull up lame after just six minutes.
The dual Brownlow medalist was in the middle of executing a kick while running at full speed when he was pushed in the back.
The 30-year-old immediately clutched at his right hamstring but told Fox Sports on Monday morning the injury was just "bad luck".
"It certainly wasn't a lack of conditioning. I wouldn't have been out there if I wasn't ready to go," he said.
"I just got pushed by accident into a position that hamstrings can't tolerate, so it wouldn't have mattered if I trained for 50 weeks or six weeks, it wouldn't have changed the outcome.
"You look at the GPS data, that speed that I was pushed at was twice as quick as anyone else moved for the night.
"So it's pretty simple mathematics, your body can't tolerate that and there was a bit of a pop but it's not the end of the world, I'll be back."
Blues general manager of football operations Andrew McKay also denied the veteran midfielder was not fit to play, telling SEN radio the injury was "a freak accident".
"He'll get a scan today and we'll assess it from there," McKay said on Monday morning.
"It was certainly a really solid win, but marred slightly by Juddy going down with a hammy."
"He was ready to play. Given that he hadn't had any game time this year, we thought the sub would be perfect for him.
"It was one of those freak things where you go to kick the ball and he overextends that hamstring."
To add to Carlton's injury woes, midfielder Ed Curnow's lower leg was slammed into the goal post during a tackle in the final term.
The 24-year-old was unable to continue playing and was on crutches after the game, and will also have scans on Monday.
McKay admitted there were concerns Curnow may have sustained a fracture.
"That's certainly what we've got to determine and if that's the case he'll be out for a few weeks, but we'll have to determine that first," McKay told SEN.
"He got a knock to the lower leg, on the fibula … that occurred when he hit the post, if you recall. We tried to get him back on but he was just too sore."