BROCK McLean expects he'll be fit to take on the Sydney Swans this Saturday night despite his last-minute withdrawal from Carlton's elimination final win over Richmond.

McLean was named in Carlton's final team 90 minutes before last Sunday's game, but pulled out after feeling his quad tighten late in the Blues' warm-up.

However, the 27-year-old midfielder told AFL.com.au on Tuesday night he was confident of returning against the Swans in the first semi-final.

"I had a scan yesterday and there's no further damage which is good," McLean said ahead of the AFL Players' Association MVP Awards in Docklands.

"So I'll train tomorrow, train Friday and I'm expecting to play."

McLean has been sidelined since injuring his quad early in Carlton's round 22 win over Essendon.

The Blue said he was confident he had fully recovered from the injury in the lead-up to the Tigers' clash, but sensed in the warm-up he hadn't.

"It was a last-minute decision. I just wasn't 100 per cent confident that I would have got through the game," he said.

"I just told the coach exactly that and Nick Duigan came in and kicked four goals, which was great for us.

"Even better, we won and lived to fight another day."

McLean said Carlton had to shed its recent habit of starting games slowly to beat the Swans (the Blues were 26 points down against the Tigers at half-time and 32 points down at the same stage of their round 23 win over Port Adelaide).

But he believed the Blues' away wins over West Coast, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast and Port meant travelling to Sydney's ANZ Stadium this weekend held no fears.

"We tend to travel quite well. I think the majority of our trips away this year have been successful, so we'll go in pretty confident and take in our winning form from the last two weeks," he said.