INJURY cruelled the season of Geelong defender Matthew Egan on Saturday night, but fate threw him a lifeline on Monday. The good news from the surgeon who operated on his fractured foot was that he could be available for grand final selection should the Cats make it that far.

Egan had played 57 consecutive games when he fractured the navicular bone in his right foot against the Brisbane Lions. On Monday he had surgery to insert three screws.

Instead of telling him his season was over, the surgeon said Egan could start non-weight-bearing training almost immediately with a view of being right for the last weekend of September.

Coach Mark Thompson was clearly pleased with the possibility when asked whether Egan had been ruled out for the season.

"Absolutely not," Thompson said. "We got some good news from the surgeon … that he will be sort of back doing some active training next week and quite a chance to play in the last week of the finals."

His skipper, Tom Harley, who will take on even more responsibility in defence during Egan's absence, offered insight into how Egan, who had been mentioned as a potential All-Australian, was feeling.

"He was devastated yesterday," Harley said. "I spoke to him (today) and he was in pretty good spirits. He got some really good news from the surgeon yesterday and he's a really committed guy. He'll hit the ground running when he can and he's a pretty positive kind of guy.

"Everyone's just going to have to adjust the way they play. If it meant that I went to more of a key post that means someone would have to come and take my spot. We've got confidence that we're pretty flexible."

But while Egan will be missing for Sunday's first qualifying final against the Kangaroos, Thompson said he had the ideal replacement available.

"We're going to play Jim Bartel — he's not a bad replacement," Thompson said.

Also coming into the side will be Max Rooke, who has played two solid games in the VFL on his way back from a hamstring injury that so confounded treatment here that he was sent to Germany for a radical procedure earlier this year.

"He's played two VFL games and the result of us sending him over to Germany and being as professional as we can be in so far as giving every player a chance to play might be a good investment — he has played two games and he's on the verge of playing again in the AFL," Thompson said.

"He's in good form — coming back to the VFL he had 24 possessions, played 75 per cent of the time or 80 per cent of the game."

With Brad Ottens and Mark Blake performing well, the news may not be so good for Steven King, Thompson saying the side would not include all three talls.

"We won't go in with all three," Thompson said. "Whoever misses out is going to be very, very unlucky because the three ruckmen that we do have are in fantastic form."