Geelong coach Chris Scott has officially ruled out champion players Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie from the AFL side for the first final against Port Adelaide, but expects them to line up in the VFL.
The pair have missed large chunks of the 2024 season and are pushing for a late return as the Cats press for premiership glory.
For Hawkins, it is looking more and more unlikely that he will get his fairytale end after announcing his retirement a month ago.
Scott alluded to the fact that the experienced duo will likely get some minutes in the reserves this weekend when the club faces Southport Sharks.
However, he did concede it would be hard to promote them to the senior side after such long layoffs, pending they get through the weekend.
"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 laydown 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.
"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 has missed with an Achilles injury since Round 15, albeit his form had floundered for a month leading into the Carlton clash, causing calls for Scott to throw Shannon Neale the keys to the car.
Whereas Guthrie has failed to play the majority of the past two seasons, donning the hoops on only 10 occasions as persistent leg issues continue to rear its ugly head.
In better news, Scott allayed any fears Geelong fans would have surrounding Tom Stewart (hamstring) and Lawson Humphries (calf) availabilities for Thursday's clash, while Sam De Koning has put his hand up for selection after his comeback in the VFL over the weekend.
De Koning's versatility does make him an interesting prospect at the selection table, having rolled through the ruck at times throughout the year.