Carlton confident Dale Thomas can complete an entire pre-season Dale Thomas was plagued at Collingwood by an ankle problem. CARLTON says a dramatically improved prognosis on Dale Thomas' ankle has it confident he will hit Round 1 after a full pre-season. Thomas was told by some specialists late this year he needed a total ankle reconstruction and six to nine months recovery after continuing ankle issues. But Carlton football manager Andrew Mackay said yesterday Thomas would be ready for a full pre-season - and a December high altitude trip in Arizona - after an exhaustive investigation of his ankle issues. Repeated re-scanning of his ankle using outside specialists showed he was being hampered by scar tissue rather than an injury requiring surgery which would relocate hamstring tendon into his battered ankle. High profile quartet Thomas, Marc Murphy, Matthew Kreuzer and Andrew Carrazzo will be ready for the start of the pre-season after various ailments in 2013. Murphy has been told he does not need knee surgery and can conduct a full pre-season, Carrazzo will be ready after calf surgery, and Kreuzer is injury-free after continuous soft-tissue niggles. Dale Thomas is looking forward to reuniting with his old Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse at Carlton after confirming he will join the Blues next season. A group of 35 players will leave on December 3 for Arizona, but veteran Chris Judd and Carrazzo - a father of triplets - will train back in Melbourne. Brisbane's former no. 12 draft pick Sam Docherty will be lured for pick 33, but the Blues will keep trade bait Josh Bootsma after lukewarm interest from West Coast. Key forward Levi Casboult and former first round pick Kane Lucas will stay, while veteran Heath Scotland could be retained on the list as a nominated rookie. The Herald Sun confirmed yesterday Scotland would play into his 16th season, but the Blues might clear another spot on their list by putting him on as a rookie who can still play from Round 1. McKay said the Blues had left no stone unturned to ensure Thomas was right to play. We were certainly pretty thorough in his (injury) assessment, and it wasn't just us, we got some independent medicos to have a look at him as well. He will be ready to go in December. The initial diagnosis was that he had done (his ankle) again but in fact there was a bit of scar tissue on the MRI, or some suture material on the tendon, and that was causing some blurring on the MRI. We got it looked at a couple of times and they came to the conclusion he hadn't done it again, it was just the leftover from the previous operation. So that's nice to know."" Carrazzo had repeated calf problems this year, but has had surgery to split some tendons at the bottom of his calf, which should solve his issues. McKay said Murphy would complete a full pre-season after several months of rest. ""He saw the knee specialist but decided not to have surgery, so he's OK. He has had a couple of arthroscopes in the last couple of years, but the surgeon was quite confident he will be OK. He will be able to have a full pre-season.