CARLTON tall Shaun Hampson would like to see Brett Ratten experiment with a three-ruck rotation during a game, but he doesn't expect to line up alongside Matthew Kreuzer and Robert Warnock any time soon.

The Blues have an embarrassment of riches in the position and will have a tough decision to make when Warnock regains match fitness after dual shoulder surgeries delayed his start to the season.

Hampson and Kreuzer combined with great effect against Richmond in the round one win and the 24-year-old thinks a three-way battle for two spots is more likely than a trio of big men going into the same match together.

"It's a really tough one," Hampson said.

"The coaches have the toughest job of all there, but I don't think ideally they'd like to play all three of us.

"If all three of us are playing really good footy then they might give it a go. It would be interesting to see and I think it's something they should give a go, but I don't necessarily think they want to.

"At the end of the day it will be about who's playing the best footy and has the most to offer the team."

Hampson provided a strong physical presence inside attacking 50 against the Tigers, taking three contested marks and booting three goals.

He's generally considered more suited to playing a key forward role than Warnock and former No.1 draft pick Kreuzer is preferred ahead of those two as the lead ruckman by virtue of his supreme workrate and elite athleticism. 

"I've always enjoyed playing with Kreuze [and] I think we both bring something a bit different to the team," Hampson said.

"[Our chemistry] is something that we've been working on, not just this pre-season but the couple before that, and I think that we are starting to work really well together."

That makes Warnock the odd man out early in the season, but he showed his quality in the finals last year when he was called upon to shoulder the ruck burden on his own when Kreuzer and Hampson were ruled out through injury.

Hampson suffered the classic ruckman's curse, a posterior cruciate ligament tear, against the Sydney Swans in round 14 and came excruciatingly close to regaining full fitness in time for the semi-final against West Coast in Perth.

"Paul Bower and I flew over as emergencies and watched from the stands so that made it twice as tough," he says of the gut-wrenching three-point loss.

Although he narrowly missed playing in that game, his rehabilitation from the injury at least allowed him a clear run at a pre-season he labels his best ever.

His summer program included the gruelling training camp to Qatar and Abu Dhabi and a trip to an eye surgeon for a corrective laser procedure that he believes was a key factor in his impressive showing in the night match against Richmond.

"I think under lights is where it's going to come in most handy," he says.

"When I played with contacts at night they just didn't go well with my eyes for some reason. I used to get a lot of glare off the lights, so I think it will really help me see the ball a lot better.

"It wasn't nice for about a week [after the surgery], but if it's going to help my footy even 5 per cent then why not?"

Hampson should reach his 50-game milestone in his sixth year at the club after being picked 17th overall at the 2006 NAB AFL Draft.

The athletically gifted big man knows the patience the Blues have shown with him hasn't always been shared outside Visy Park and he's determined to repay that faith. 

"I was late to the sport … and people do put a lot of expectation on you, but you've just got to try and do your best, which is what I've been trying to do," he says.

"I feel like I haven't taken a backward step and I'll keep getting that little bit better every year."