Tanner Bruhn will be a test to take on the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Friday night as he recovers from a foot sprain.

Bruhn left the field midway through the first quarter during Saturday night’s game against St Kilda to be assessed and was able to return to play out the game.

“Tanner had a low-level generalised mid-foot sprain in the first quarter and was able to play the game out and performed really well,” Geelong Cats Assistant General Manager – Football Brett Johnson said.

“Tanner will be assessed this week. We’ll see how he goes at training, and he will be a test this week to play against the Crows.”

Midfielder Jack Bowes will be unavailable for the Friday night clash as he continues to build his training loads back up this week after a calf complaint ruled him out of the Cats’ season-opener.

“Jack has been hampered by a really heavy lower-leg contusion (corky) that he got in training,” Johnson said.

“We just want to make sure with Jack that we just re-establish his training loads over the course of this week, and we expect him to be available for selection for Round 3.”

In other health updates, draftee George Stevens is recovering from a low-grade left ankle and left knee sprain to his medial ligaments which he sustained in Geelong’s VFL practice match against Sandringham on the weekend.

“They’re both low-grade sprains. He’ll be assessed later in the week, but we anticipate George will miss up to 2-3 weeks,” Johnson said.

With Geelong’s availability in a good place heading into Round 2, there will be a strong number of AFL-listed players taking the field in Geelong’s VFL season-opener at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, as part of a doubleheader with the Club’s VFLW program.

Two of Geelong’s recruits will be missing in the early stages of the season, with the Club taking a conservative approach with Joe Furphy and Mitch Edwards.

“Joe, unfortunately, had an ankle issue over the course of pre-season, which has slowed him down a bit, so it’s important with his first year in the program that we get a good training base under him so he can perform when he’s ready to start playing,” Johnson said.

“We anticipate that he’s still six weeks away from playing.

“Mitch Edwards is similar, he’s a young guy who has had a bit of a stress response in his lower back – again, just adapting to AFL training loads.

“We’re going to be really cautious with Mitch and progress his loads over the next six weeks, and at that point, we’ll reassess where he’s at in terms of his readiness to play.”

Following a Round 1 win in front of a sold-out GMHBA Stadium, Johnson said the Cats were focusing on getting things right on the training track and gameday as they build into the season.

“It was a good AFL performance on the weekend. Our VFL had a good hit-out as well against Sandringham in hot conditions, so I think we’re holding up pretty well,” he said.

“Availability is still tracking pretty well and it’s important that we keep training hard in the early stages of the season.”

Geelong takes on Adelaide this Friday night at Adelaide Oval, with first bounce at 7.10pm local time.

GMHBA Health Update Round 2