DESPITE Michael Voss' word on Monday, Carlton coach Brett Ratten will still plan for Brisbane Lions triple premiership player Simon Black to run out for this weekend's elimination final.

The Lions have question marks on the fitness of five key players – Black, Daniel Bradshaw, Josh Drummond, Daniel Merrett and Jed Adcock.

Voss said all were unlikely to play but Ratten considered on Tuesday that anything could happen ahead of a final.

"Maybe there's a little bit of cat and mouse there," Ratten said.

"But we know that Brisbane in Brisbane is a huge task and they play finals very well up there. History says that, so we'll expect their best line-up out there."

Of particular concern for the Lions – and potentially for the Blues – is the fitness of Black.

The Brownlow Medallist is in doubt with a hamstring injury but Ratten is predicting he will recover in time.

"We'll expect Simon Black to play," Ratten said.

"Looking back at the tape, he did grab his buttock-hamstring area, but he was very close to the interchange.

"It wasn't that far to go off the ground and he didn't come off, so we think it might be more [of a] cramp than anything else

"We'll just wait and see [but] we'll be putting them in our calculations for sure."

Ratten faces the tough task of picking up his side following its 12-goal loss to Adelaide last Saturday, but he said the mood around the club was positive.

Suspended trio Eddie Betts, Cameron Cloke and Jeff Garlett are all pushing for recalls, which could force some changes for the Blues.

Betts, Cloke and Garlett sat out the clash with the Crows for turning up late to a recovery session following the round 21 win over Melbourne.

"When you reflect on the week itself it started fairly badly [from] straight after the [Melbourne] game, didn't it?” Ratten said.

"I think the whole week, we need to move on really quickly and forget about that.

"I was really pleased with Jeff, Eddie and Clokey's response.

"Their training attitude was fantastic. They didn't sit there and sulk, they got on with it really quickly and their performance at Bullants level was really good as well."

Cloke booted four goals for the Northern Bullants and Betts added two, while Ratten said Garlett laid about eight tackles in a half.