Geelong veteran Cam Guthrie has surgery on troublesome achilles, full injury timeline since 2022 grand final

Cam Guthrie has played 10 AFL games since he was best and fairest in a premiership year, and now more time on the sidelines looms. See the full extent of his horror injury run.

Luckless Geelong midfielder Cam Guthrie has undergone minor surgery to repair his troublesome achilles in yet another blow for the injury-ravaged Cat.

Guthrie has played 10 senior games since he was joint best and fairest in Geelong’s 2022 premiership and had already been ruled out of Geelong’s two practice matches.

SCROLL DOWN FOR GUTHRIE’S INJURY TIMELINE SINCE 2022

The dual best and fairest managed to return in the VFL finals last season to put himself in contention for an AFL recall, but he hasn’t featured at AFL level since round 10 of 2024.

There were positive signs for the 32-year-old this pre-season but his achilles soreness and discomfort has lingered, with Cats midfield coach Steven King saying last week that Guthrie was continuing to experience issues when his training loads increased.

Geelong GM of football Andrew Mackie said it would only be a short spell on the sidelines for Guthrie and that his timeline won’t be determined until the “early stages of the season”.

Cam Guthrie has undergone surgery. Picture: Mark Wilson

“Our medical and high performance team are confident that surgery was the best step for Cameron to fully recover and give himself the best chance to perform,” Geelong general manager of football Andrew Mackie said.

“The aim for Cameron is to be back on the track in the next fortnight and integrated into football drills within the month. A return to play timeline will be finalised in the early stages of the season.”

It is the latest in a string of injury setbacks for the off-contract Guthrie in the past two seasons.

The 240-game midfielder played through a toe injury early in 2023 which became a serious issue that required surgery. He beat the initial timeline and got back for a VFL game at the end of 2023.

After travelling to the US for a training block in the 2023 off-season, Guthrie’s promising progress came to an end inside the first 30 seconds of his first practice match when he pinged a quad against Carlton.

Guthrie collected 27 disposals in his round seven return against Carlton across halfback but three games later he was substituted out of the Cats’ crushing defeat to Gold Coast up in Darwin with his achilles injury.

Since then his return to play timeline has been murky with the club being extra cautious before they gave him the chance to prove himself ahead of their preliminary final against Port Adelaide.

Captain Patrick Dangerfield said in December he would be like a “new recruit” in 2025 and Guthrie’s brother, Zach, was hopeful in January that Cam would be in line for an opening round return.

Originally published as Geelong veteran Cam Guthrie has surgery on troublesome achilles, full injury timeline since 2022 grand final