Geelong heads into its bye full of confidence after a crucial win buoyed by the fact it will regain Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan and Max Holmes.
The reigning premiers squared the ledger at 6-6 with a crucial 22-point victory over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night to snap a three-match losing streak.
With its 15.7 (97) to 10.15 (75) win, Geelong avoided losing a fourth-straight match for the first time since 2006 – before recently retired captain Joel Selwood began his legendary career.
The Cats have been forced to deal with injuries to numerous important players including star captain Dangerfield.
Twelve players remain on Geelong’s injury list but it will be boosted by the return of Dangerfield, Duncan and Holmes for its round-14 trip to face Port Adelaide.
“We’re far from in a position where we think we’re off and rolling because we won one game and we’ll get some players back post-bye,” Cats coach Chris Scott said.
“It’s a sound platform, in my opinion for the second half of the season, but I would have said the same had we lost.
“We’re not overconfident but I think when you’ve got optimism, if the equation becomes you have to win every game from here, I’ll think, ‘yeah we can do that’.”
Dangerfield has been carefully managed after hurting his hamstring a month ago, with the Cats having had success easing him through last season before he played his best football in the finals.
Duncan has also been dealing with a hamstring strain, going down in the surprise defeat to Richmond last month.
Young gun Holmes, who was the hard-luck story of grand final week last year, was initially feared to be out for up to eight weeks.
But after undergoing surgery on his knee, Holmes will only miss two full games after suffering the meniscus injury against Fremantle in round 10.
