GEELONG is confident Shannon Neale will be fit to feature in next Friday night's Opening Round clash against Gold Coast, having limped from the field on Wednesday evening with a shin injury.

Neale exited the side's AAMI Community Series defeat against Carlton after colliding with Blues big man Marc Pittonet in a ruck contest, but the Cats are confident the forward has avoided knee damage and will be fine to play in nine days' time.

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"No concerns. We expect him to be fine," Geelong assistant coach James Kelly said afterwards.

"He got a bit of a knock on his shin. He's a bit unlucky. There's probably about 10cm that isn't covered by the shin guard and he got the knock just above that.

"He's an important player for us, so we took him straight off. He was obviously sore, but it was just a knock on the shin.

"Not at this stage (are we concerned by the knee), it was just a knock."

Neale had been contesting a centre ball-up with Pittonet, bringing the AFL's new ruck rules – introduced across the summer – into the spotlight even further.

Kelly said the scare with Neale would likely prompt clubs to reconsider who they allowed to take centre ball-ups across the course of the season, with the key forward one of the Cats' most important attacking threats.

"How you deploy your athletic guys is always a question across the AFL," Kelly said.

"I know that there are teams that don't like to put key forwards in there. We're generally not one of those. The flexibility within our team is something we value.

"I can't speak for other teams, but I think for us we value the flexibility and we like having guys in there that can jump and can run. But I'm sure some teams will certainly think about it."

Geelong remains confident superstar forward Jeremy Cameron will recover from a quad complaint in time to feature against Gold Coast, with Bailey Smith also expected to return from a calf injury.

But fellow forward Gryan Miers is racing the clock to play against the Suns, having suffered a thumb problem that ruled him out of Wednesday night's practice match defeat.

"As far as I know, (Cameron) should be fine," Kelly said.

"We're pretty confident with Bailey. Gryan, I actually couldn't give you an honest answer on that. I'm pretty sure he's pushing hard to play. But we're pretty confident with Bailey."

Carlton's 15-point win was inspired by former No.3 pick Jagga Smith, who was undoubtedly the game's best player and looks certain for an Opening Round debut against Sydney in eight days' time.

Smith had 37 disposals, 15 contested possessions, five clearances, five score involvements, five intercepts and kicked a classy goal in the victory, soaring alongside Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps in the Blues' midfield.

A year after his maiden 2025 season was ruined before it began by an ACL injury, Smith is now a certainty to feature against the Swans at the SCG next weekend.

"I'm pleased for Jagga," Carlton assistant coach Ash Hansen said.

"We know his skillset is going to make us a better team. For such a young man to have to navigate the disappointment of last year and wait for another opportunity, it's a testament to the person he is.

"He's going to have an exciting future. We certainly don't want to put the weight of expectation on one young man's shoulders, but if we can continue to play well as a team he's going to help us be a pretty good team.

"His ability to accumulate is undoubtedly one of his strengths, and he did that in his junior footy. But his ability to use his fast feet in traffic, have composure to put a teammate in a better position, hit targets, take the game forward for us, he's the link player between midfield and the forward line. A lot of the teams in today's footy value that so highly, because defences are very good.

"He's only going to get better, he's going to grow. But it was really pleasing that he had another experience tonight that probably shows him what he can do."