Carlton's gritty win over St Kilda was overshadowed by a host of injuries, with coach Michael Voss asking multiple players to feature in different areas of the ground.
The Blues held off a plucky Saints by 15 points at the MCG on Friday in honour of the late, great Danny Frawley in the annualย Spud's Game.
In the tough-fought encounter, injuries were coming thick and fast for Voss' men, who lost intercept defender Mitch McGovern on the opening term.
McGovern came off second-best in a collision with Saints youngster Liam O'Connell, and was subsequently subbed from the game and sent to the hospital to scan his chest.
Lachie Cowan was forced from the game with a persistent hamstring issue, while Blake Acres was hindered by a shoulder injury.
Nick Haynes also came from the ground with a head knock and looked dazed, but like Acres, he was able to return to the field.
As a result, Adam Cerra was sent back to reinforce the backline while Lewis Young was used at either end, despite kicking two goals and stretching the Saints' defence.
"When it was needed, we had a group stand up," Voss said.
"The way it played out there for about 15 minutes at the end of the second quarter, we were sort of holding on because we had four or five guys that were either carrying something or were having something assessed to see if they could go back on.
"Fortunately, we were able to run out the game quite ok. There were a couple of moving pieces there for a while, and we were inventing new defenders for a period of time.
"Lucky we had 'Youngy' (Lewis Young) on hand to go back and fill that role for us, and Cooper (Lord) was able to come into the midfield so 'Chez' (Adam Cerra) could go back, and he played a really solid game."
Voss was shocked that Ross Lyon opted to fill up the stoppages, causing the game to become a scrap and low-scoring affair.
The Carlton coach was "happy" Lyon's tactics were to create more congestion, allowing the injury-hit Blues defence to set up behind the ball.
"We weren't choosing to fill up the stoppage," Voss said.
"We're happy for the game to go dead for a little while, and that's just the way that it played out.
"So I don't really get into semantics about who starts what, but we were quite happy to live in that arm wrestle for that period of time, and I think it helped us run out the game.
"We were quite happy for the stoppages to be full so we could get our time to rest, and then we took our opportunities.
"I can't imagine it was too pretty to watch, but at the same time, it was the phase of the game that we needed."
The Blues have turned around a 0-4 start to sit just outside the eight after nine rounds, claiming a quartet of victories in the past month.
They'll take on Sydney at the SCG in Round 10.
