North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker is "hopeful" that star forward Alice O'Loughlin will be available for his side's preliminary final in a fortnight.

O'Loughlin left the ground in the hands of trainers during the fourth quarter of the Kangaroos' 36-point qualifying final win over Carlton after hurting her knee in a tackle by Gab Pound.

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The dual premiership player was emotional on the bench after the incident and took no further part in the game.

"Initially I thought it was her ankle but they're telling me that it's a little bit of a knee issue and it's a knee issue that she's had existing for a few weeks," Crocker said after the match.

"Fingers crossed. She'll obviously get assessed over the next 24 hours, potentially get a scan and hopefully it's not too serious.

"The week off next week will obviously help her. We're hopeful we'll see her again in the prelim."

Another player who could potentially return for the penultimate weekend is former league best and fairest Emma Kearney.

Kearney injured her hamstring in round nine and was this week listed in the club's injury report as 1-2 weeks away from returning.

"Yeah, ‘Kearns' has been ticking all the boxes. She's been going really well, done everything that's been asked of her," Crocker said.

"We've been here and done that with Kearns before so she's known the drill, she's known what she's had to do, and she's got obviously two weeks of training to get into her before the prelim.

"But it would be good to get her to that point and get some game time into her in the prelim."

The Kangaroos will host the winner of next weekend's second semi-final in their preliminary final in a fortnight: one of Geelong, Sydney or the Western Bulldogs.