Port Adelaide has only won three games since Motlop fractured his ankle in the round 12 game against the Western Bulldogs in Darwin and .
Power midfielder Matt Thomas said Motlop's athleticism would be a welcome boost to the team's forwardline.
"It'd be nice to have someone like Motts floating around the forward line, we miss some of his chasing and athleticism, he'd be good in our side at the moment so it'd be great to see if he could get back," Thomas said.
The Power, who have won just one game away from AAMI Stadium this year, must upset the Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night to be any chance of making the eight in 2009.
They must also rely on Essendon dropping its remaining two games against Fremantle and Subiaco and Hawthorn at the MCG.
Port Adelaide trailed by just seven points early in the final quarter on Sunday, but was powerless to stop Carlton’s late onslaught.
The Blues piled on six unanswered goals to secure victory and hand the Power, who have the worst average losing margin in the league, another hefty loss.
But Thomas said on Monday a lack of fitness was not the reason behind his team's patchy form - it was a matter of working harder.
The Power played two solid quarters against Carlton but were outscored 15 goals-to-two in the second and fourth terms to go down by 54 points.
The disappointing drop-off prompted coach Mark Williams to question the work ethic and running ability of some of his players.
However, Thomas denied fitness was an issue and, instead, challenged the willingness of the group.
"Our fitness program's been one of the best documented over the last few years. We've got a lot of guys who can run a good 3km [time trial] and I think it comes down just to gut running and blokes being up for the challenge,” Thomas said.
"Maybe we didn't run both ways as well as we have in the past, but I think we'd be lying to say we're not fit enough.
“I think it's within ourselves, we've got to bring it out of ourselves and work a bit harder, because the coaches have only done so much up to the Saturday or the Sunday and the rest is up to us."
He said one of the resons the result blew out against Carlton was Port decided to attack at all cost.
"We weren't out there to save the game, we were trying to win it in the fourth quarter so we tried some things that didn't work for us," he said.
"They got on top and kicked those goals - but that wasn't through us not trying.
"A team like Carlton, with a lot of guys who you could probably call front runners and with some really good players and good midfielders, once they get a run on like that it's pretty hard to stop."
