Chris Scott is eager to get Patrick Dangerfield back into the Geelong side before the mid-season bye, while forecasting Cam Guthrie will spend multiple weeks on the sidelines.
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Guthrie (achilles) and Gary Rohan (adductor) played in last week's thumping from Gold Coast in Darwin but are out of the Cats' side for Saturday's home clash with Greater Western Sydney with "short-term" injuries.
Guthrie's latest setback comes after a quadriceps injury which delayed his start to the season by two months.
"Cam Guthrie just has an achilles issue that's flared up a little bit that medical staff are really keen to get on top of, but they think that it'll be short-term," Scott said.
"Although having said that, he does need some continuity in terms of his training and playing.
"So while we're pretty confident he'll get back, we just need to be thoughtful about his reintegration because we don't want him missing too much training.
"And if games get in the way of that, then we'll hold him back."
Scott said Rohan has a "really acute" adductor issue, with Geelong taking a cautious approach by leaving him out of the team to face the Giants.
Dangerfield will miss a fourth straight match after re-injuring his left hamstring during the round-eight win over Carlton.
The Cats' captain trained with teammates in recent days and is edging closer to a return, though the exact date remains uncertain.
Geelong take on Richmond and Sydney over the next two weeks before a bye in round 14.
"He looks pretty sharp and will have put together a good couple of weeks of training before we even consider him," Scott said.
"It's likely we'll hold him back a little bit but I watched him train a little bit today, and probably more so two days ago, and he looked ready to play now.
"That's just not a path we're going down but it's not out of the realms of possibility that there's just no reason not to play him next week, for example, but I suspect we'll hold him back."
Geelong (7-3) are out to snap a three-match losing streak when they host GWS (6-4).
The Giants have lost four of their past five matches, but have won on their last three trips to GMHBA Stadium.
Australian Associated Press
