CARLTON coach Brett Ratten says his side will travel to Sydney in good form after a hard-fought win over Adelaide, but admits to some concern over the Blues' recent inaccuracy in front of goal.

Five rounds into the season, Carlton has returned a combined score of 73.75 that has yielded three wins, a draw and a loss, but the past fortnight has seen that conversion rate decline with scores of 11.13 and 11.19.

The Blues still garnered six premiership points from those two games, against Essendon and the Crows, but the inaccuracy issue is one that Ratten hasn't had to contemplate much in the past.

"I can't put my finger on it to be honest," Ratten said ahead of Friday night's encounter with the Sydney Swans at the SCG.

"Everyone focuses in on how the game's improved in a lot of areas, but probably hasn't in goalkicking.

"We've never had that problem over the last few years … but this year I think we're near the bottom of the competition for accuracy.

"If you go through the stats last week we were miles in front in a lot of areas of the game. It was more our execution in being able to finish the last play.

"If you have 30 shots to 19 and you only win by six points - we hurt ourselves. We gave the ball back and they rebounded fairly well at times, but I think our form's pretty good."

Despite his concerns, Ratten said the club wouldn't deviate from its weekly training regime that sees each player take at least 40 shots on goal and has served them well in the past.

With a six-day turnaround between matches, the Blues will have a light week on the track in preparation for their visit to a ground that has seen them record seven losses in succession.

Ratten has not coached his side to a win at the venue during his tenure and was a fresh-faced 21-year-old in the last Carlton team to taste victory over the Swans at the ground back in 1993.  

Brock McLean is a strong chance to play his first game of the season after good form in the VFL with Kane Lucas and Dennis Armfield also part of a tricky conversation at Blues' match committee this week.

"I think your ability to win the ball in close will be really important," Ratten said, hinting at a call-up for McLean.

"But the balance to be able to spread and run … we've seen what [Geelong's David] Wojcinski did up there in the wet, which was pretty critical, where he kicked three goals with his pace.

"I think there's a real fine line. If you go too much contested ball, you can become a bit too slow and you still need your run and carry outside as well."

Chris Yarran was subbed out of the win over Adelaide with hamstring soreness and, while Ratten is keen to utilise his creativity against the Swans, the coach said the club would err on the side of caution if he didn't report a completely clean bill of health by Thursday. 

Defender Paul Bower is set to miss at least one week after suffering a quad injury in the VFL at the weekend.