GEELONG coach Chris Scott believes there is a "very good chance" Paul Chapman can escape with a reprimand after the star Cat was reported in his team's 16-point win over Port Adelaide on Friday night.
Chapman collected the Power's Robbie Gray high when attempting to bump at the nine-minute mark of the third quarter, drawing comparisons to the incident that saw Hawk Lance Franklin miss last week's qualifying final against the Sydney Swans through suspension.
When asked post-game about the incident Scott was non-committal, but having seen it a day later the Cats' coach is hopeful that Chapman will be available to take on the Hawks in next Friday night's preliminary final.
"I've seen it now. I find the Match Review Panel really hard to read," Scott said on Triple M on Saturday afternoon.
"I think there's a very good chance that that one will be regarded as insufficient force or downgraded to at least a reprimand.
"That would be our hope at the moment."
Scott realises there will be plenty of interest through the week, as the build up to the huge game intensifies.
"Every man and his dog is going to have an opinion on it. We'll bite our tongue and do what we need to do in the next couple of days."
Chapman put an injury-plagued season behind him on Friday night, starring in the Cats' comeback win with a game-high four goals.
Scott conceded Chapman would be a loss if suspended, but said the Cats had enough in-form players outside their semi-final 22 to cover him.
"If he misses, one thing we won't do is cry over spilt milk," Scott said.
"I don't think we did that last week. I mean, losers think about ‘what if’. If only we had have played better against Freo we could have had the week off.
"The bottom line is we're in a prelim, we'll have 22 players who are playing really good footy because we do have a number of them on the sidelines who can come into our team, and we'll give it a really good shake.
"I hope Chappy's a part of it. If he's not, we'll move on."
The Cats have other selection concerns ahead of their clash with the Hawks.
Defender Jared Rivers injured his left ankle late in the third term in a collision with Port defender Jay Schulz, while Corey Enright is racing the clock to return from a medial ligament strain suffered in the Cats' qualifying final loss to Fremantle.
Scott said the fact Rivers had to be substituted from the game early in the last quarter was "a little bit of a concern".
"Hopefully by not playing on it in the last quarter he's more likely to be available than he would have been," he said.
Scott said Enright's knee had been immobilised since he injured it, but the star defender had not been ruled out of the preliminary final.
"When we take the brace off and get him moving again we'll know a bit more, but the medical staff certainly didn't rule him out for next week," Scott said.
