Cats confirm Harley's return, Ottens' progress

TOM HARLEY will return from a hamstring tear to lead Geelong in its clash with Port Adelaide on Sunday, while ruckman Brad Ottens has finally resumed running after suffering a knee injury in round two.

Harley missed the Cats' last two games against West Coast and Fremantle – both in Perth – but coach Mark Thompson confirmed his captain had recovered with the benefit of the split round.

"He's going to play this week – he's ticked all the boxes," Thompson said from Skilled Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

"He's given himself almost another week to make sure he's right.

"He missed last week's game, but I suppose [the break came at a good time] because he didn't miss an actual game but got the week of rehab in."

Ottens remains one of the club's biggest concerns – the 29-year-old injured a posterior cruciate ligament in the early stages of the win over Richmond – and has been listed as up to four weeks from a return since then.

That dropped to two to three weeks on Tuesday night.

Thompson said Ottens would start training with his teammates as soon as next week.

"He's doing a lot of running – he ran four kilometres, so he's getting miles in his legs," he said.

"He's not far away – he's turned the corner."

While it could seem that a fully-rested Ottens would be a bonus heading into the finals, Thompson said that wasn't the case.

"The problem with that is that he had a really good summer, but then he spent probably six weeks where he didn't run so building up your fitness base again, that's not a good thing," he said.

"We wish he was playing. He'll be happy to be match-fit again."

Thompson added that successive treks to the west – either side of the split-round break – had come at the perfect time for his side.

"Talking to people in the industry, they really needed it," he said. "You look forward to it so much and then it arrives and you just relax and then gear yourself up for the next 10 weeks of footy.

"I reckon it's perfect halfway through the season.

"I got away for five days and it was good."