GEELONG forward Tom Hawkins looks certain to line up in Friday night's semi-final against Port Adelaide after training strongly at Simonds Stadium on Wednesday morning.
Hawkins, whose back injury kept him out of last weekend's loss to Fremantle, successfully completed a number of running drills and then moved freely during match-simulation exercises.
"He kicked a couple of nice goals and took a couple of nice grabs, so he was moving well," Cats midfielder Steven Motlop told AFL.com.au after the training session.
"It was better than what I've seen him move in the last few weeks. Hopefully they do selection today and he's in."
Because the Cats have only a six-day break between their qualifying final against the Dockers and Friday night's clash with the Power, the training run on Wednesday was their only full-scale session for the week.
As a result, it was Hawkins' only chance to prove his fitness by taking on some of his teammates.
From Motlop's perspective, the burly sharp-shooter passed the test with flying colours.
"He usually plays on Harry Taylor or Tom Lonergan when we do match-simulation," he explained. "He was mostly on Harry today.
"Obviously Harry's a very good player, so they weren't doing anything half-hearted."
Veteran defender Andrew Mackie, who copped a knock to the ankle against Freo, trained with the main group on Wednesday.
But emerging midfielder Josh Caddy, who is battling to overcome a rolled ankle, trained away from the core group.
Regardless of the final makeup of Geelong's team, Motlop and his teammates know they need to perform far better on Friday night than they did against Fremantle.
"We looked at a few things we have to improve on when we did our match review," he said.
"But now it's all about looking at Port. They really take the game on, so it's a great test for us.
"It's a big test for our defence. We pride ourselves on our defence, but we let a couple of easy goals in last week.
"I think it's going to be a great game."
Friday night's clash looks set to be hit by inclement weather, with the bureau predicting rain throughout the day.
Such a forecast does not concern the Cats, who are renowned wet-trackers.
"The rain's good for us," Motlop said. "We love the rain.
"We love it to be a contest, a contested game, because that's the way we love to play."
Although all of their games from here will be sudden-death contests, there remains an air of confidence down at Geelong.
"We're still in a great position," Motlop said. "We only need to win two games and we're in a Grand Final.
"But this week's our main focus right now."
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
