Cat may miss first month

INJURED Geelong defender Lachie Henderson may not be seen until Round 4, coach Chris Scott has revealed.

Henderson has battled with a knee injury this preseason, twice requiring surgery before Christmas.

“At the moment, my best estimate is (he’ll return) somewhere between the week before Round 1 and Round 4, or somewhere around there,” Scott told the AFL website.

“Importantly, it’s not something we think is going to limit him through the season. It’s just a matter of getting it completely right and that just takes a bit of time at this stage.

“It’s not a serious issue and it’s one that the surgeons and the doctors say should resolve itself, but for Lachie it’s just really frustrating at the moment because it’s a bit slower than expected.”

Scott said Scott Selwood, who had ankle surgery late last month, also faced a delayed start to the season.

“The feedback is really positive in that there was a specific issue that they were able to fix,” Scott said.

“Sometimes those procedures can be a bit ambiguous and you can come out sort of not knowing really whether it’s going to definitively help the problem.

“This involved a bone fragment that they were able to take out.

“Again, he’ll be slow but we’re really confident that he’ll be actually better in two months’ time than he was late last season.”