Geelong captain Joel Selwood is tipped to miss Sunday’s AFL clash with coach Chris Scott flagging changes for their meeting with last-placed Adelaide.

Scott wouldn’t reveal details of Selwood’s “niggle” but said it might keep him out beyond a week as they look to extend their run of three wins.

He did reveal it was unrelated to the hamstring strain suffered in their loss to Collingwood last month.

“We are managing him and he’s no certainty to play,” Scott said on Thursday.

“He has got a little niggle that might cost him a week or so and we are just in a phase of a season, with some short breaks coming up, that it would be crazy for us to push him when we would like to see him play consecutive games, hopefully going into the finals series.

“We haven’t ruled him out … but I just didn’t want you to be surprised that if he missed, there might be something that is really going to hold him up – we don’t think that is the case at all.”

While the skipper may be out Scott said he expected to have a number of inclusions for the Adelaide Oval match against the winless Crows.

Small forward Luke Dahlhaus, who has been out since round seven with a foot issue, as well as midfielder Jack Steven are likely to play while youngster Brad Close is in the selection mix.

Scott was optimistic forward-ruckman Esava Ratugolea, who was due to play last week before being ruled out with soreness, would also front.

“He’s looking good now – he’s not a certainty but I would have thought if he’s available we would take him,” Scott said.

The coach said while it had been a difficult season to manage without VFL games for players to push their case for inclusion, he felt they were building some good depth.

“There are some guys we really rate who have been out of the team while they’ve been performing well at training and in the scratch matches.

“There’s a bit of depth there and room for optimism that we can go with a few options other than our absolute preferred 22 and still get the job done.”