Geelong believe injured playmaker Max Holmes could play again this season if the Cats make a deep run in the finals.
Holmes had ankle surgery after being hurt in Geelong's 27-point triumph against St Kilda last Thursday night.
The brilliant midfielder won't feature for the rest of the home-and-away series.
But Cats coach Chris Scott is hopeful on Holmes, and also says champion spearhead Jeremy Cameron (shoulder) could return before the finals.
"Jeremy, we're talking best-case scenarios here, it's possible he might be back towards the end of the home-and-away season, start of finals," Scott told reporters on Tuesday.
"It's also possible that he might not come back at all, so these long-term outlooks are fraught with potential error.
"Jeremy start of finals, potentially. And Max, if we go a bit deeper into finals, then that becomes a bit more hopeful."
With five games remaining before finals, the Cats hold ninth spot - two wins behind fourth, and two wins ahead of 11th.
Scott said Holmes' surgery on his right ankle was successful.
"There is only two outcomes post-surgery that I am aware of in my time in footy: it was either a disaster and they found more than they had hoped, or the surgeon is really happy and it went well," he said.
"It's the latter this time, it went as expected; Max is actually really optimistic and positive - so is Jeremy, for that matter.
"So we are just leaving all options on the table.
"It's one where we would be really straightforward if it was clear that it was season over.
"But it is not the case for either of them which, again, gives us some room for optimism."
The Cats could be bolstered by a batch of returning players for Friday night's MCG encounter against sixth-placed Melbourne, coached by Scott's former assistant Steven King.
Veteran Mark Blicavs, Jack Martin and Jake Kolodjashnij were all rested from the St Kilda game, when Scott made seven changes to his team.
"The changes weren't a reaction to how we were going, that was probably more a reference to the macro plan we had," he said.
"We just want to make sure we do have fresh and healthy guys on the table and that seems to be the case this week, with the obvious exceptions of Cameron and Holmes."
