The balance of the ruck position has been the main storyline for both Carlton and North Melbourne as they inch towards their clash this weekend, but for totally opposite reasons.

For the Kangaroos, the pressure being exerted on the incumbent ruck duo of Tristan Xerri and Todd Goldstein by first-year Roo Callum Coleman-Jones has been immense. For Carlton, it boils down to a lack of fit players who specialise in the position.

When Carlton's regular ruck Marc Pittonet went down clutching his knee in the first quarter of last week's loss to Fremantle, good news wasn't expected for Carlton fans, and good news is not what was delivered.

Pittonet is facing at least two months on the sidelines with a PCL injury. If you couple that with the late fitness test that looms for part-time ruck Jack Silvagni, then there's a high chance Tom De Koning will shoulder the burden of the ruck load. Alex Mirkov is also an option for the Blues, but playing local football as recently as 2020 it could be too soon for the 210cm monster yet to make his debut.

It's almost a case of too many options against too few.

While going into the game with a specialist ruck poses an on-paper advantage for the Kangaroos, David Noble is wary of how Carlton could look to counteract the match-up.

"They (Carlton) will probably go to work on some ground level cover and how they'll structure up their centre bounces. It doesn't always necessarily correlate when you've got a key ruck and the opposition doesn't," Noble said.

"We have to maintain that efficiency … we got some score out of our centre bounces last week which was really good, but it's not a given that just because we've got a ruck against probably not Carlton's number one ruck that we'll have an advantage."

Whether Coleman-Jones earns his second game at senior level for North Melbourne this weekend remains to be seen.

After making his club debut playing as a key forward in Round 1 against Hawthorn, Coleman-Jones has been forced to bide his time at VFL level and earn his next opportunity.

In his time in the reserves Coleman-Jones has formed a potent ruck partnership with young Jacob Edwards, and he was dominant in the middle of the ground against Frankston.

Despite Xerri currently holding the mantle of number one ruck, Noble says it isn't necessarily a battle between Coleman-Jones and Goldstein for the second spot.

"All three rucks understand that there's pressure. 'CJ' (Coleman-Jones) is in good form and he's had a couple of really good games at VFL level so he's pressing pretty hard," Noble said.

"We think 'Goldy' (Goldstein) is going OK … he's an awkward forward to match up on, that's the methodology. He's [also] got great experience.

"We like the two rucks, I think there's enough pressure from CJ as to what we'll do and what we'll consider this week."