GEELONG coach Chris Scott has again acknowledged the Tom Hawkins is playing hurt, but he remains adamant that the key forward does not need a spell on the sidelines.

Hawkins has been troubled by a back injury for some weeks, and he looked well below his best during the Cats' 28-point win over Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

He finished with only three marks and nine possessions, although he did boot two important goals.

"We understand that he is a little bit limited at the moment, but the medical view is very strong that he is not doing any further damage," Scott said.

"But we need to make an assessment, given he's a little bit limited, as to whether he can play a role for the team, and he's doing that to the letter.

"He's not playing the way Tom Hawkins has in the last 18 months. He's playing a slightly different role, and we think he's being very effective for the team.

"We've made the assessment that he's not at his absolute best. But is he good enough to play a role for us at the moment? We think he is."

Tagger Taylor Hunt is Geelong's other injury concern. Hunt was subbed out of the win over the Bombers during the first quarter after copping a heavy bump from Jake Melksham.

Hunt had his right arm in a sling as he congratulated his teammates in the rooms after the game, and the club fears he might have broken his collarbone.

"Our medical staff through it was an AC (joint) issue at first," Scott said.

"Now they think the joint is okay but the bone itself is a little tender, so we can't make a call on that right at the moment.

"The medical staff were unsure whether he could play on (prior to him being subbed out), and our view was that the risk of doing further damage was just too great."

At 7-0, the Cats are now the only unbeaten team in the competition, but Scott is adamant his men have plenty of improvement left in them.
They certainly still need to work on their set-ups at stoppages, as Essendon won the clearance count 41-22.

"We're realistic that the footy we're playing now isn't going to be good enough at the end of the year," Scott said.

"But we have a lot of players who are knocking on the door of selection … so our game needs to keep improving and evolving and the personnel we use will certainly evolve as well."

Geelong also started its 2009 and 2011 seasons with seven straight wins, and in both those years the Cats won the premiership.