CARLTON could regain three important players for Friday’s trip to Darwin.

With the Blues kicking off Sir Doug Nicholls Round against Gold Coast, the team could be bolstered by the availability of a former Sun as well as two teammates.

Director of High Performance Andrew Russell said Jack Martin was tracking nicely from the calf injury sustained against West Coast in Round 11.

“Jack’s calf has settled down well: he’s a good chance to play,” Russell said.

“He’s not a certainty, but we feel he’s on track to play this week and he’ll be tested later in the week.”

The news was also positive for Marc Pittonet and David Cuningham, with Russell saying the duo were likely to be available for selection on the weekend.

However, the Blues will be without Mitch McGovern for at least the next fortnight.

“He got a little bit tight in training last week so we’ve had to pull him back a little bit,” he said.

“We’ll build him back up to play whenever that is, it certainly won’t be in the next week or two.”

Russell also confirmed that Ben Silvagni would be unavailable for the rest of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

“We’ve decided to do a shoulder reconstruction. He has sublimed his shoulder three or four times this season,” he said.

“He actually had a hamstring injury last week so given that, we thought it was good timing to go in.”