Geelong coach Chris Scott is offering Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie no guarantees as the experienced pair ramp up their bids to feature in the Cats' AFL premiership push.
Hawkins (foot) and Guthrie (achilles) are likely to return from long injury lay-offs in the Cats' reserve team's knockout VFL semi-final against Southport this weekend.
The positive news comes as Scott prepares his senior side for a qualifying final against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
Geelong have a history of taking conservative approaches with senior players returning from injury and Scott would like more time for Hawkins and Guthrie to build fitness.
But he concedes now is time to roll the dice on the veteran pair, while noting he doesn't expect miracles in their comeback games.
"When guys haven't played for a long period of time ... I think it's unreasonable to put high expectations on their performance when they come back," Scott said.
"Clearly it's better if they play well, but more importantly it's how they move and how they get through and how they stand up in that game.
"It's far from a lay down misere that if those guys get through that we would play them in an AFL game the next week. We don't even know our fixture yet.
"But what will become important after that will be how well they train as well."
While hopeful three-time premiership hero Hawkins and his 2022 flag teammate Guthrie get through their VFL returns well, Scott is also wary of falling into a trap of picking the pair based on their past records.
"We're optimistic and we're positive and we're leaving it on the table but we're not in the position where we can get sidetracked by the quality of those names up on the magnet board," Scott said.
"Clearly their best has been important to us and they've been two of our best players over a long period of time, but we've got to deal in the reality of the current situation.
"There's just too many unknowns to be really specific about the likely outcome there."
Hawkins, 36, has been sidelined by his foot injury for more than two months and announced in August he will retire at the end of the season.
Guthrie has managed just 10 games since the 2022 flag, including four appearances this year.
The 32-year-old had been out of action since round 10 because of an achilles issue.
Meanwhile, Scott is keeping his cards close to his chest as versatile tall Sam De Koning prepares to return from a knee injury against Port Adelaide.
De Koning shone as a ruckman during his comeback at VFL level last weekend but could also be deployed in defence.
Scott dismissed concerns over Tom Stewart (hamstring tightness) and Lawson Humphries (calf tightness), who both sat out the second half of the round-24 win over West Coast.
Both are available to play against Port Adelaide.
