Bailey Smith will return from illness, but Tyson Stengle remains a question mark as Geelong prepares for its meeting with the GWS Giants at Engie Stadium on Saturday.
Stengle missed last week’s win over Richmond for family reasons, which took him interstate.
The Cats had hoped he would be available to take on the Giants in what will be the club’s first appearance at the venue since Round 1 of the 2020 season.
“The family issues that he’s managing at the moment are still a little bit uncertain,” Scott said.
“So, how we do that is uncertain off the back of that. Generally, in these situations, if there’s a chance that he’s going to play, we pick him in the team, which goes in tonight.
“Whether we do that or if he does become available and we bring him into the squad tomorrow… I don’t think we can do it match day, can we?
“We just need to work out on the balance of probabilities, which way it goes.
“But often, as I said, it’s not off the table that he’s going to play. That’s the situation.
“On most occasions, we just put them in the team knowing that they’re probably going to come out.
“I think that’s as much as I can say on that one. If I sound uncertain, trust your instincts.”
If Stengle plays, Geelong’s only change is likely to be Smith replacing veteran Mitch Duncan, which means George Stevens remains in the 23.
Duncan was unused as the substitute last week, as he joined Jimmy Bartel in equal fifth for the most matches played in the Hoops
The 34-year-old has undergone surgery today (Thursday) on an AC joint injury suffered in the VFL on Sunday.
“They’ll have a better feel on that when he comes out of surgery,” Scott said.
But, generally, the surgeons say that the surgery was a smashing success and he’d be somewhere in the four-to-seven week timeframe – that’s a very uneducated guess.”
Sam De Koning was listed as a test to make his return from a shoulder injury suffered against Essendon last month.
Scott has ruled out an AFL return for the key defender, while gametime in the VFL appears unlikely.
“He won’t play in the AFL team this week; we’re still working through whether we would give him some VFL game time, (but) I think that’s unlikely,” Scott said.
“I’m thinking out loud here a little bit, but he’s making really good progress.
“It was certainly on the table for him to play this week, but my sense is that we’ll just wait a little bit there.
“There’s some nuance there that I won’t speculate on in terms of the return to play.
“The fact that he was a chance to play this week, I think tells you enough, which is he’s close to being right.
“It’s more likely an abundance of caution rather than anything else.”
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