Carlton are yet to put an immediate timeline on Sam Walsh's return, but are confident he will be right to face Richmond in 2023's season opener.
Walsh was sidelined prior to Carlton's must win Round 23 clash against Collingwood due to a back injury and is yet to train with the main group this pre-season.
The young gun played 20 games in 2022, bringing his career total to 81 since his debut in Round 1, 2019 and has been a consistent force in navy blue across his four seasons in the game.
Carlton assistant coach Ash Hansen provided some details on the young star's progress while speaking to AFL.com.au, revealing that despite their being no timeline on his return, the club is confident his training load should increase heading into the season.
"There is no immediate timeline at the moment. We certainly know with his training history, and the quality of athlete that he is, he probably won't need a long time to prepare himself for the season," Hansen said.
"He has been pretty diligent with the guidance and the work that he is putting in. We're still pretty confident that he'll be right for round one. We're not sure when he is going to ramp out because they can turn pretty quickly."
Elsewhere at Ikon Park, George Hewett is progressing well in his return from back surgery. The 26-year-old returned to training this week and is expected to join the main group post-Christmas break.
"He started integrating (back into training) today, which is really pleasing. He has made really positive progress along the way, hit the milestones that he's needed to," Hansen said.
"He'll have a really important few weeks over the Christmas period, so then when we return in January he should be back in the main group really quickly."
Matthew Kennedy is also on track with his recovery from a Lisfranc injury, set to resume full training in January, while ruckman Marc Pittonet is expected to rejoin the main group later in the pre-season as he continues to recover from a PCL reconstruction.
