THERE was more than one victory for Geelong coach Chris Scott out of Saturday night's clash against Richmond.

There was the 57-point win on the scoreboard, and then there was the fact that Geelong's five-time All Australian forward Jeremy Cameron made it through his return game unharmed.

CATS v TIGERS Full match coverage and stats

Cameron collected 22 disposals and spent plenty of time in the back half of the ground as he played out his first match since injuring his shoulder in round 18.

“I think Jeremy in particular was a win for us tonight,” Scott said after the match.

“(Tonight) was obviously more than match practice, but having not played for quite a while, it was good to see him covering the ground well.

“I think he was always going to be right for the finals, but the preference was to get some footy into him before our first finals game. So I think we ticked that box.”

While Cameron was an unfamiliar presence in the Cats' defensive half, Scott said it was likely that the two-time Coleman medallist would reprise that role again in September.

“High, I think,” Scott said when asked about the prospect of Cameron playing in defence again.

“The last time he played, he played in the back half. We've sort of joked for a long time that if we had two of him, we'd play one behind the ball.

“Even tonight, he just gives us a different look and he does change the way the game's played. I've always appreciated his flexibility and I've never thought of him as just an inside 50 target. I mean, clearly he can do that, but really so much more.”

Another Cat who played in a slightly different position was forward Shaun Mannagh, who spent a large portion of the game playing in the midfield.

“Shaun played a little bit more midfield last week as well, but he's been in really good form and has been for a while. He's an important part of the way we play,” Scott said.

“And then I guess the other one in that category a bit was (Patrick) Dangerfield, second game back, looked really sharp.

“So I think collectively we go into the finals series feeling good about our game. Not overconfident, but we feel like we've given ourselves a chance to have a really good swing at it.”

Saturday night's win places Geelong firmly in the top six, meaning the Cats avoid a wildcard final.

“To finish fifth or sixth with a 15-8 win-loss record and a really good percentage, that's a good season. A lot of years that would get you into the top four. I know it's a remote possibility for us, still,” Scott said.

“I think it speaks to the fact that all the way down to 10, those teams will be thinking, 'if we have a good day, we'll be hard to beat'. I don't think anyone should be overconfident.”

Scott confirmed that defender Jack Henry, who spent a large portion of the game on the bench with a lower leg complaint, will be right for the club's next match.

Meanwhile, Richmond coach Adem Yze said young Tiger Sam Banks, who was sent to hospital during the match with an elevated heart rate, was recovering well from the scare and had been sent home.

“He obviously went to hospital, he had an irregular heartbeat but he's been discharged now so he's on his way home,” Yze said post-match.

'He thought he hurt his shoulder or thought he hurt his pec (pectoral muscle) in a tackle. So he copped a big hit in a tackle, went back out there and then obviously started feeling a little bit weird. 

“Obviously took precaution with that and sent him away (to hospital). But yeah, good to hear that he's out of hospital and on his way home.”

Yze said he took some solace from the Tigers' second half, which they only lost by eight points after trailing by 49 points at half-time following a one-sided first half.

"I can't fault our attitude, our effort … that part of it, it was a credit to our lads," he said.

"At half-time we had a choice to make as a group and as a club, but the boys fought it out.

"(I was) really disappointed with our second quarter and our boys were as well. We were toiling away but just allowing too many scores from our front end, so there's some system stuff that wasn't good enough again, whether that's from young lads and just some lack of synergy with our team defence … but that wasn't up to standard.

"All we could do was fight it out and play the right way and just show the right behaviours to finish off the season with some pride. I thought we did that, but whenever you lose a game, you're never happy."