CAN A player be cited for injuring their own teammate?

That's the question Match Review Officer Michael Christian will have to answer in the next 24 hours, after Dylan Shiel shoved Mark O'Connor into oncoming traffic.

CATS v BOMBERS Full match coverage and stats

The Cat collided with Shiel's teammate, Luamon Lual, who was mid-air attempting a high intercept mark.

Luckily, Lual managed to jam his hands into the turf just before his head hit the surface, and he was later subbed off, although not with any specified injury.

If the somewhat dangerous shove to O'Connor had collected a Cat in mid-air, a citation would certainly be coming Shiel's way, but the presence of a Bomber makes for uncharted waters.

"It'll be an interesting one. I'm not sure you can get suspended for hurting your own player, but, we'll see," Essendon coach Brad Scott said.

"[Lual] was very sore, but he was able to function and he competed hard. But we just felt that – while he was able to function, he was sore, so we needed to make the sub anyway. He was the obvious candidate, to us."

Mid-season recruit Archie May is set to be added to Essendon's lengthy injury list, injuring his ankle in the dying minutes of the match.

"He's got an ankle sprain, at a minimum. Again, we're keeping some of these radiologists in business at the minute," Brad Scott said.

"He'll go and get scans tomorrow, and we'll see how that is, but he's pretty sore at the moment."

Essendon threw Isaac Kako onto the ball in the second half, and the speedy forward helped drive the Bombers into a much-improved two quarters of football, despite the final margin of 44 points.

"We're really encouraged by that. We think Isaac is just about as good there is with the ball below his knees. I think Nick Watson at Hawthorn displayed some really good strength, and ability to hold his feet, and run at speed when the ball's below his knees, and Isaac's got the same capability," Brad Scott said.

"We've crashed-coursed him in centre bounce work over the last two weeks, and we were ready to get him in there tonight. I thought he showed some really good signs in there. 

"It's a win for us. I think we've got a lot to get out of the last few games, I've said that repeatedly. And that's one thing – getting him in there, he's bodying up against Max Holmes and Bailey Smith. He didn't look out of place, and he did some really good things.

"We know what he can do forward of the ball, but to be able to develop him in the last few rounds as a centre-bounce midfielder as well. It'll be a real bonus going into next year."

It was somewhat of a patchy performance from Geelong, with a tenacious Essendon closing to 21 points in the final term before the margin was pushed out again.

"We were okay in parts, but execution was a bit off. It sounds a bit picky to come away from a game with so many scoring shots (34) saying that. But the game was really on in the third quarter in particular, we were pinned in our back half," Cats coach Chris Scott said. 

"It didn't feel at stage like it was a game against the team that just don't have any players left. It felt like a pretty high-pressure game, and maybe we contributed to that a little bit with the way we played. And sometimes that lack of execution can be a bit contagious. 

"But I'm probably being a little harsh, because when you actually take a breath and sit back, I suspect our takeaway will be that we've worked really hard to get ourselves in a really good position at this stage of the year. If every year in October or November, someone said, 'this is where you'll be in mid-August', you'd take it for sure."

Integral defender Jack Henry was subbed out at half-time with hamstring tightness, with Chris Scott saying the feedback from medical staff was that he was "okay".

Jack Martin was also a late withdrawal, listed as "management".

"He was a little bit tight in the last 24 hours or so, and in the end, there was just enough reasons there to say, 'let's take the more conservative route and get it right for next week'," Chris Scott said.

"But I think it's reasonable to say, it was an ultra-conservative call on a guy with a pretty lengthy injury history. He's been in great form. We're really excited for what he can do for us, and the risk-reward just didn't seem to add up with Jack (Martin). But there's no injury. Supremely confident that he'll hit the ground running on Monday."