Geelong coach Chris Scott has offered insight into Tom Stewart's latest injury concern, with the premiership defender set to miss Saturday night's affair with Collingwood with a knee injury.
Stewart was hindered by the ailment in last Sunday's loss to Carlton but played out the match, and continued to deal with the concern mid-week.
The Cats made the call before Thursday's main session to put a line through Stewart's Round 8 playing prospects, with the decision coming to avoid the veteran backman playing under 100 per cent fitness.
Speaking to media on Friday, Scott said he is expecting Stewart - who has avoided structural damage - to miss the one match, but was non-committal.
"(The) Stewart [decision] was made probably pre-training yesterday," the Cats coach said.
"It maybe snuck up on us a little bit. He was obviously sore from early in the game against Carlton and battled on to get through, but just didn't recover as well as we would have liked.
"It's not a purely precautionary thing. Maybe the right question is 'should he play in the context of where he is at in his career and where we are at in the season?'
"If you start prioritising and pushing him to get up for Collingwood, then you play GWS the next week or Port Adelaide over in Adelaide. Trying to prioritise these games doesn't make much sense.
"We're trying to think in terms of what's best for him in the longer term. Having them play less than their best, which is where he was at last week, seems counterproductive to us."
The Cats will also be without forward Gryabn Miers for the second successive game as he continues to recover from a concussion sustained on Easter Monday.
Geelong's coach said the club's medical team marked Miers as unavailable as he continues to work through the protocols.
"The call came through that he's unavailable," Scott said.
"He looks fine to me, but what do I know? I sense again that this is one erring on the side of caution, but we completely support that model."
Second-year Cat George Stevens has found himself in the selection frame through dominant form to start his VFL campaign, polling 16 coaches' votes in his four games in 2025.
The big-bodied midfield-defender is averaging 27.0 disposals, 8.8 clearances, 5.0 tackles and 3.3 inside 50s per game to start the year.
Stevens was held over as an emergency last weekend and is again among the Cats on standby in Scott's squad for Saturday night, with Scott noting the GWV Rebels talent is closing in on a first game at AFL level.
"He's close. It is always a good indication when you are the carry-over emergency because it means that if something happens, we would be happy for him to play," Scott said.
"He is in the squad again and is right in the frame, so he is doing a good job."
Geelong are searching for their fifth win of the year when they face ladder leaders Collingwood at the MCG this weekend, with a loss potentially seeing them fall out of the top eight.
