Geelong have not ruled out playing star forward Steve Johnson in Friday’s big AFL clash with Hawthorn, despite the spearhead being concussed at the weekend.

Johnson was concussed during a collision with Adelaide’s Scott Thompson at Simonds Stadium on Saturday. The AFL Tribunal found the incident was accidental and Thompson was not penalised.

Johnson came off the ground bleeding from his face but Geelong coach Chris Scott said on Tuesday the veteran did not appear to be suffering many after effects from the hit.

“He seems pretty good but it’s just so hard to tell,” Scott said.

“We’re going to have to wait until the end of the week.

“The indications are positive. It would be unlikely that the indications would be really negative … he doesn’t have any tangible symptoms at the moment but that doesn’t mean that he will pass all the tests later in the week,” Scott said.

“But we’ll certainly wait until Thursday before doing too much work with him.

“We’ll name him in the side and then wait and see how he goes after our last session,” he said.

Scott said the match would provide the Cats with a vital test of their form with the finals looming, but he said he did not need any examination to know the side had to improve.

“In the context of our season, it’s a big game,” Scott said.

“We think we’ve played pretty well the last couple of weeks but we know we need to play better against the Hawks.”

Scott said just how much the team needed to lift was difficult to pinpoint as some areas had been better than others.

“It’s really hard to quantify,” he said. “Some parts of our game have been really good. In and around the contests, I think we’ve been pretty strong, although we were beaten convincingly at the clearances (last week).

“I think if that happens against the Hawks, we’ll probably be in a bit of trouble.

“We probably need to continue to work on our defence as well – they are so good with their skill that if we slacken off at all, they are going to hurt us.”

Scott said Geelong’s recent string of victories against Hawthorn would probably be irrelevant on Friday night.

“I don’t really place much weight on it at all,” Scott said.

“My great (Brisbane) coach Leigh Matthews once said that anything longer than four weeks ago was ancient history.

“I’m not sure if it means anything to Hawthorn but I think our guys have a belief, not so much that they can beat Hawthorn but, when they play their best, they can beat anyone.”