CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has conceded his team will almost certainly need to defeat West Coast without Matthew Kreuzer or Bryce Gibbs.
 
Gibbs is fighting a losing battle to recover from a sprained AC joint that he suffered in a heavy fall late in the elimination final against Essendon, while Kreuzer is still struggling to overcome a mystery numbness in his left foot.
 
The ruckman first reported the issue in the warm-up for the round 24 clash against St Kilda and was subbed out of the game in the second quarter after it didn't improve.
 
He spent that night in hospital undergoing a series of tests and has seen three specialists since, but looks set to miss his second final in the past fortnight.
 
"[He's] probably unlikely to play unless something changes in the next 48 hours," Ratten said from Visy Park on Wednesday.
 
"Over the last 48 hours we thought we were on top of it, but we still can't identify exactly what it is, so we'll have to just wait and see.
 
"Unless something changes [he probably won't travel with the team], but if it does he'll travel and play. He won't travel unless [we're confident] he'll play."
 
The only thing the club is sure of, according to Ratten, is that Kreuzer is not suffering from debilitating Compartment Syndrome.
 
Gibbs' injury is a lot more straightforward, but the result in terms of selection for Saturday's semi-final at Patersons Stadium is the same.
 
"The likelihood is that it's very slim that he'll play," Ratten said.
 
"There is a bit of pain. I think if you watch the vision, he gets his hand above his head straight away, so he can [do that], but the big one for us is if he gets a knock or something like that we'd have to take into consideration that he'd be out for the game.
 
"The risk of that happening and what that does for the other 21 men is pretty unfair. We'll have to weigh that up."

In winning an elimination final after two failed finals attempts in succession, the Blues shed a significant psychological burden, but Ratten was keen to point out that didn't lessen his expectations of his players and their efforts to meet key performance indicators.

He's confident his team has the ability to progress past the Eagles, who will have the advantage of playing on their home patch, but will also have to deal with some pressure of their own.

"Do they make the finals and lose in straight sets? I think then they would carry that burden into next year after finishing in the top four," Ratten said.

"That would be a burden for them the following year … they might have to carry that weight."

West Coast was too good for the Blues when the teams met back in round 14, but Ratten was quick to point out that full-back Michael Jamison suffered a knee injury during that game and Mitch Robinson, Jeremy Laidler and Nick Duigan were unavailable.

Ratten faces a selection dilemma in replacing Gibbs and striking the right balance between a team that can exploit the wide open spaces of Patersons Stadium and a taller line-up better equipped to combat Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui in the ruck and Josh Kennedy, Quinten Lynch and Jack Darling inside forward 50.

The coach didn't give any clues as to which way he was leaning, but he has a few options up his sleeve with ruck-forward Shaun Hampson kicking six goals in the VFL last weekend with Kane Lucas, Zach Tuohy and Jordan Russell also in the mix.

Brock McLean was rated the best player in the Bullants' win, but was dropped when the Blues went to Perth to play Fremantle in round 21 due to concerns over his pace and is unlikely to come into considerations.