Geelong is delaying the AFL comeback of Patrick Dangerfield with the Brownlow medallist ruled out of returning for Saturday's away clash against West Coast.
Dangerfield, who hasn't played since May 21 when he injured a calf, had been earmarked to return to action this weekend.
But Geelong coach Chris Scott wants Dangerfield to continue a solid block of training before his likely reappearance next weekend.
"We have chosen to hold back a few guys who ... to the naked eye, you would think that they're more than ready and available," Scott told reporters on Thursday.
"Patrick is obviously the one that garners a lot of attention.
"We did forecast a long time ago that the training we would like him to get in is arguably more important than his rehabilitation from his injury.
"And he has been training really well.
"We just don't feel that going to Perth this week justifies the interruption to his training for the preparation for what will be, I think, the last nine games of the season for him."
Jack Henry, Max Holmes, Esava Ratugolea and Shaun Higgins are also likely to have their AFL recalls postponed at least another week.
But Sam Menegola, recovered from a knee injury, will play his first AFL game of the season against an Eagles side which Scott said demanded respect despite being in last place with just one win.
West Coast could be bolstered by a batch of returning senior players including Elliot Yeo, Dom Sheed, Liam Ryan, Willie Rioli and Jeremy McGovern.
"They are going to have a much better team on paper than they have all year," Scott said of the Eagles.
"The ins coming in are pretty daunting.
"So the obvious approach for us to take is to assume that they're going to be close to what they have been at their best and disregard what we have seen for the rest of the season.
"It's in some ways more challenging because we don't think that their recent history is going to reflect the way the game will be played on Saturday.
"It's a rare situation where we wouldn't generally play a team in the midway point of the year and be looking at what they have done at their best six months prior to that.
"But I think this is one situation where we have got to look at the more distant history in what to expect."
