Carlton could be poised to rest young ruckman Matthew Kreuzer after admitting last year's top draft pick has shouldered a huge workload in his debut AFL season.

Kreuzer has played eight games in succession, and during that stint the 19-year-old has been used in the ruck, in the forward line, and in Saturday night's loss to Geelong at Telstra Dome, in defence.

Blues coach Brett Ratten conceded Kreuzer did not much of an impact against Geelong ruckmen Mark Blake and Brad Ottens, and might be ready to either have a weekend off or play in the VFL to ward off fatigue.

"It won't be too far, it might be time to give him a rest," Ratten said.

"He's done a lot of work for us first year as a kid coming in, and has had to burden that ruck role, and he's done some outstanding efforts.

"But AFL is pretty uncompromising, you've got to maintain it for the whole game."

Kreuzer found himself in defence when Paul Bower became the latest victim of the Blues' backline curse.

Bower injured a shoulder when tackled by Geelong's Steve Johnson, and is set to miss Sunday's game against Port Adelaide.

Carlton have had enormous trouble stringing together a solid backline this season, as Bret Thornton and Michael Jamison have been injured, and Jarrad Waite missed Saturday night's game through suspension.

Ratten said Carlton could learn from the way Geelong applied pressure Saturday night and tackled hard, having been on the receiving end to Collingwood the previous weekend.

"We'll go through all aspects and how they did what was done to them the week before," Ratten said of the 19.19 (133) to 12.5 (77) defeat.

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