Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield says he felt like a "head case" in the wake of his calf muscle scare last week, but he's confident he will be fit to play in Saturday's AFL clash with Gold Coast.
Dangerfield was full of anxiety when he felt some strange sensations in his calf during the warm-up to last week's 45-point win over St Kilda.
The 32-year-old eventually decided to pull out of the match as a precaution, but scans have since cleared him of any damage.
Dangerfield battled a calf injury earlier this season, and he was scared of suffering a recurrence so close to finals.
The fact that Geelong are sitting on top of the table and this year looms as Dangerfield's best chance of winning a flag no doubt heightened the anxiety of the 298-game veteran.
"It was probably the most anxious I've ever been in a warm-up pre-game," Dangerfield told SEN on Tuesday.
"I'd been a bit tight throughout the week, but it had moved around a fair bit, which is not unusual when you're coming back from soft tissue issues.
"Then pre-game ... I could hit full speed, it felt fine. But it was slowing down, decelerating, where I started to get this band of tightness, which had been fine throughout the week.
"But this was specifically banging the spot which I'd had issues with throughout the year.
"And all of a sudden this anxiety lifts, and It's like, 'Oh my god, if I play and I don't say anything and I redo it, I'd be furious with myself'.
"But at the same time there's 40 minutes before the game starts, and it's like, 'Geez, you're dropping this on the coaches now?'"
Dangerfield was eventually convinced that it was ok to pull out, but the anxiety remained until scans cleared him of damage.
"I feel like a head case. That's definitely why you have the scans," Dangerfield said.
"It's just in your mind, the mind starts to play games, particularly when you've had ongoing issues at different stages."
Dangerfield got through Monday's training session without any problems, but he hesitated for a second when asked if he would be fit to play this week.
He eventually declared his optimism.
"At this stage, yeah all signs point towards playing this week," he said.
Fellow veteran Joel Selwood, who was managed last week, is also set to return for the clash at Metricon Stadium.
