Coach Brenton Sanderson says the Club took a cautious approach in substituting forward Ian Callinan out of the game against Carlton at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.

Callinan sustained a “knock” to his left knee in the first quarter and was handed the red vest at quarter time. Sanderson said the early indications were that the injury wasn’t serious.

“Ian wanted to go back on. He was keen to keep playing but at this time of year you don’t want to take any unnecessary risks with players,” Sanderson said.

“We’ll get a medical update on that in the next few days. We’ve got two weeks to get him right and we’ll be cautious with him.”

Jared Petrenko and Sam Shaw both made successful returns from injury in the three-point win over Carlton. Petrenko, who had post-season shoulder surgery, started the game and played a bit over a half. The uncompromising forward was only credited with one goal from five possessions, but he helped set the tone for the match with his intensity.

“I loved Pup’s first half. I didn’t want to sub him,” Sanderson said.

“I think he only had five or six possessions, but his pressure and the errors he forces the opposition to make are critical for us. Sometimes, you don’t have to look at the stats sheet to understand someone’s value to the team.

“What he brought to the game tonight is what we need.”

Petrenko made way for Shaw, who has overcome knee soreness, in the third quarter. Sanderson said Shaw and defender Richard Tambling (back) would gain match fitness in the SANFL next weekend.

“We’ll have a certain number of guys play SANFL practice matches … Sam Shaw, for example. Richard Tambling didn’t play last week or tonight, but will be available for selection for Sturt next week and it’ll be good to see him play," Sanderson said.

“We’re making sure we’ve got enough minutes into our players before Round One. We’ll train our boys pretty hard this week. The majority of the squad will have the weekend off and then we play the following Friday night.”

Sanderson demanded his players show a “different attitude” against the Blues after a disappointing loss to Geelong last weekend. He was pleased with what he saw for three quarters.

“The start was a lot better and the third quarter was outstanding,” he said.

“For three quarters, we played some decent footy both offensively and defensively. We’ll review the last quarter. We let Carlton back into the game and without Matt Jaensch’s tackle we would’ve been in a bit of trouble I think.”

Jaensch chased down the fleet-footed Jeff Garlett to stop the elusive forward running into goal and snatching the lead for the Blues in the dying stages.

“To be honest, I didn’t think Jaenschy would catch him,” Sanderson said.

“During the week, I showed the boys some clips of Garlett, Eddie Betts, Dennis Armfield and Andrew Walker running back to goal and their opponents couldn’t get near them. But Jaenschy ran at a good angle and it was a match-saving tackle.

“It was nice to win. If you take out the super goals though, it’s a loss so it depends what rules you want to play by… but there were some positives there and we’ll take some reasonable form into the game against Essendon in Round One.”