Geelong forward Tom Hawkins to miss clash against GWS

GEELONG has denied the timing of Tom Hawkins' minor knee surgery has anything to do with its lowly ranked opponent on Saturday.

Tom Hawkins

GEELONG has denied the timing of premiership star Tom Hawkins' minor knee surgery has anything to do with its lowly ranked opponent on Saturday.

Hawkins is expected to miss only Saturday's game against Greater Western Sydney at Simonds Stadium after having had the surgery at the weekend.

Geelong coach Chris Scott yesterday revealed Hawkins had required intensive treatment to play in recent weeks and was "really labouring" at the end of Friday night's game against the Western Bulldogs.

"It got worse on the weekend, so it was always the case of something needed to be done at some stage," Scott said.

"He was really labouring by the end of the game on the weekend, so the decision was made to get it fixed.

"It's one of those things you're confident (that) once you have the procedure done he'll be better really quickly. Maybe he could have pushed through it a little bit, but it would have be just delaying the inevitable."

The Cats are hopeful Hawkins will return against Carlton in Round 11, after which they have the bye.

Scott said Geelong hoped to bring back James Kelly this week after a calf injury and would not rest players, despite Sportsbet listing the Cats at $1 to win, with the Giants at $34 in head-to-head betting.

Allen Christensen remains in doubt but defender Tom Gillies should be available, with Scott saying he was "really keen to get him back into the 22".

"We do have a couple of minor injuries that we need to monitor (this week), but fortunately we have some players that we would expect to come back," Scott said.

And Scott said he would also love defender Matthew Scarlett, who turns 33 next month, to continue next year.

Since the start of 2009, the Cats have won 83 per cent of their matches when Scarlett plays, but the figure drops to 61 per cent when he is out.

"Our long-term list management strategy is putting things in place to try to replace him, because we've got to face reality," Scott said.

"He's got to finish some time soon. If it's not this year, we think it will probably be next year.

"We're not going to be able to replace him like-for-like because those players just aren't out there.

"But we'll continue to develop young players that we think can go some way to filling that void."