Geelong ageing stars Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie expected to return from injury in Cats’ VFL final

Sidelined Cats stars Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie are returning sooner than first thought.

Geelong ageing premiership stars Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie are expected to be put to the test in the VFL this weekend as they strive to return for the Cats’ AFL finals campaign.

Cats coach Chris Scott said sidelined duo Hawkins (foot) and Guthrie (achilles) are tipped to to return in Geelong VFL’s clash against Southport at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday morning.

He also confirmed promising tall Sam De Koning is well-placed to face Port Adelaide after his encouraging VFL return from a knee injury in the ruck on Saturday.

Hawkins has been working hard to return from a foot blow he suffered against Carlton in round 15, while the luckless Guthrie — who last played in round 10 — has had another long road back from an achilles injury that has taken longer than first hoped to heal.

Geelong games record holder Hawkins, who will retire at the end of the season, hasn’t played in the reserves since 2011, while dual best-and-fairest winner Guthrie played one match in the VFL late last season.

Tom Hawkins is set to play in the VFL. Picture: Brendon Thorne/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“We expect them both to play, but we think there is a lot of water to flow under the bridge before they become available for AFL selection,” Scott said.

“But certainly this week it is a good sign, but far from the final step they need to take before they are declared available for a (AFL) final.

“I’ve said this over the years that we have waited and waited and waited before we’ve got guys back into match practice, this isn’t one of those situations.

“We’d ideally like them to get a bit more training in, but there just aren’t enough games left. So that would be the likely reason why we would play them this week, if they do in fact play.”

Scott said that the pair are far from certainties to play in Geelong’s second AFL final – whether that be an semi or preliminary final – with plenty of unknowns on the esteemed pair.

But the Cats won’t be swayed by their illustrious resumes.

“Generally when guys haven’t played for a long period of times – and that’s the case for Hawkins and Guthrie – I think it is unreasonable to put high expectations on their performance when they come back,” Scott said.

“Clearly they are in if they play well, but more importantly it is how they move and how they get through and how they stand up in that game. It’s far from a lay down misere that if these guys get through, we will play them in an AFL game the next week – we don’t even know our fixture yet.

“But what will become important for that will be how well they train as well. There is a possibility that they won’t have another VFL game after this week – and that won’t preclude them from coming back, but we will just need to be thoughtful and really detailed in their analysis of how they are going.

“It is obviously relative to the others as well. We are optimistic and positive and leaving it on the table, but we are not in a position where we can get sidetracked by the quality of those names up on the magnet board.

“Clearly their best has been important to us and they have been two of our best players over a long period of time, but we’ve got to deal in the reality of the current situation.”

De Koning showed promise as a ruckman in the twos with 23 hitouts, 18 disposals and 96 SuperCoach against Werribee, but Scott said they hadn’t made a call on where he will play on Thursday night.

“Exactly which way we choose over the next month or so hopefully is still a little bit up for debate, but we need to think a little bit about cohesiveness and stability,” Scott said.

“But it’s not as if we’re trying something that hasn’t been tried for the rest of the year if we decide to play De Koning a little bit more ruck as opposed to back.

We haven’t committed to which way we will go exactly that it is nice to know we have all those options on the table”.

His VFL outing put some pressure on veteran ruckman Rhys Stanley, who was subbed out of their last meeting with Port Adelaide before halftime earlier in the year.

But Scott reiterated this was not due to poor performance.

“We didn’t sub Rhys out because he was going badly, we subbed him out because the team was going badly and we needed to do something quite drastic,” Scott said.

“I can’t remember voluntarily subbing a player out before halftime and it would be wrong to suggest it was because of his performance.”

Originally published as Geelong ageing stars Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie expected to return from injury in Cats’ VFL final