CARLTON ruckman Robert Warnock is set to return as the Blues look to get back on the winners' list against West Coast on Saturday.

Warnock, 23, crossed from Fremantle amid much fanfare prior to the 2009 season, but a foot stress fracture meant he did not play a game.

He played the first five matches of this season before losing his spot to Sam Jacobs, but coach Brett Ratten appears ready to reward his VFL form.

"He'll probably come into the team unless opinions change at match committee today, but I daresay he'll come into the team," Ratten said from Visy Park on Wednesday.

"He's going along well. He and Shaun Hampson are fairly close, and even Sam Jacobs, I think the whole three are fairly close [in terms of selection].

"I guess we're missing Matty Kreuzer a little bit, but it will be a good opportunity if Robbie gets a game to really show what he's produced over the last month at VFL level."

Carlton's ruck tandem will need to be on top of its game to effectively combat Dean Cox and Nick Naitanui on their home turf, but Mark LeCras is the obvious danger man after booting 12 goals against Essendon last week.

"His performance was outstanding, wasn't it?" Ratten said.

"His work rate was enormous and he's kicked goals against us before so we'll have our work cut out to stop his influence in the game. It will be pretty critical."

First choice full-back Michael Jamison would appear set to have first crack at the in-form Eagle with Ratten noting he had done the job on LeCras previously.

The Blues have come in for mounting criticism having lost four of their last five games, but Ratten remains confident his side has the ability to turn things around. 

"We could sit in here as a group and if we listened to what's going on outside we could think that we must be in the bottom four, but we're actually in eighth position," he said.

"I think we control our own destiny and we've spoken about that.

"We've been a very effective team with the ball early in the year and that's fallen away. We've addressed that and we'll just keep chipping away."

While ball use, in particular delivery inside 50, has been an issue, Ratten warned his players they must be ready to get hold of the hard ball if they are to hold their spots.

"You look across the team and players aren't asked to be Chris Judd, but when it's their turn they need to make sure they go," he said.

"That's something that some of the players are looking at who are outside the contest when it flips out and it's a 50-50 ball. Whether you have 10 opportunities or one - when it's your turn you have to go."

Brad Fisher kicked four goals for the Bullants on the weekend but will need to impress the coach at least one more time before he gets the green light to return from pre-season LARS surgery.

Brock McLean appears to be fighting a losing battle to return this season having failed to resume full training following knee surgery.

"Every week he misses he loses conditioning which is the worry," Ratten noted.

"So the longer it takes him to get on the field, the harder it's going to be for him to have an impact towards the end of the year."