Rising Geelong star Jordan Clark has damaged his left elbow at training, sending a scare through the Cats’ camp in the run-up to the AFL finals.
Clark was taken straight for medical treatment in obvious pain and with his left arm in a sling on Wednesday, having landed awkwardly after a marking contest with ruckman Zac Smith.
The 18-year-old Clark has played 18 matches in a hugely successful debut season after being picked up by the Cats with pick 15 in last year’s national draft.
Speaking before training at GMHBA Stadium, coach Chris Scott said impressive midfielder Brandan Parfitt was likely to return to the side to take on North Melbourne on Saturday having overcome a back problem.
Luke Dahlhaus, Mark O’Connor and Harry Taylor are also probable inclusions to the line-up which went down to Fremantle last weekend by 34 points.
But forward Gary Rohan (knee) will likely miss the next two rounds as Geelong look to reverse a slump in which they have dropped four of seven matches since the bye.
They remain on top of the ladder, but are only percentage clear of West Coast and Brisbane.
“It’s not as though we’ve lost four in a row, either,” said Scott.
“We’re far from panicking around the way we’re going.
“We’ve got a high level of confidence that we can find our best football and that our best football competes pretty well with anyone.
“But it’s not to say that we don’t have things to work on because we do.
“The specific part of the season now for us is that we had a little bit of room to move a couple of weeks ago and now we don’t – which might not be the worst thing.”