GEELONG has ruled out veteran midfielder Joel Corey for the clash with Collingwood on Friday night, while key defender Harry Taylor remains in doubt.

Taylor was concussed during the second quarter of last weekend's loss to the Sydney Swans and had to be subbed out of the match.

"[Harry] seems OK," Geelong coach Chris Scott said at Skilled Stadium on Tuesday.

"It's the same with all these things: we will keep monitoring him and make a decision as late as possible.

"He'll have a number of tests this week, but the decision certainly won't be made either way until later in the week."

Corey is battling a groin problem that has sidelined him since the Cats edged out Adelaide in round 21.

"He seems in pretty good shape, and if it was a bigger game, with more riding on the result, then we might push him," Scott said.

"But he'd have to absolutely convince us that he was perfect to play, and I can't see us even testing that before the weekend."

However, Scott is confident that Corey will be fit for Geelong's qualifying final against Hawthorn.

"We'd be very disappointed if he didn't come up for that one," he said.

Veterans Cameron Mooney and Darren Milburn and young onballer Mitch Duncan are all expected to line up against the Magpies in the first match of round 24.

Mooney missed the match against the Swans due to suspension, while Milburn was left out after suffering an Achilles problem and Duncan was given the weekend off to recover from a number of niggling injuries.

Given both Geelong and Collingwood are entrenched in the top four, and already know their opponents for week one of the finals, it appears that both sides have little to play for on Friday night.

But Scott is adamant the contest will be a valuable rehearsal for the big games ahead.

"It's going to be a good game; we're playing really good opposition," he said.

"It's going to be fantastic match-practice for us. From the comments I've heard out of the Collingwood camp, it's going to be exactly the same for them.

"We deal in reality. It's not the end of the world whatever happens in this game. The most important thing is the four weeks post this game.

"But it is going to be important for our preparation and we want to play as well as we possibly can."

When it comes to tactics in the game, the Cats' boss does not believe the teams will be trying to keep aces up their sleeve.

"I heard Mick [Malthouse] say that if he doesn't know how we play yet then he's never going to know, and I think it's the same for us," Scott said.

 "We may do things differently if we do get the chance to play them again, but a lot of that will probably be on the basis of what happens on the weekend.

"We're certainly not going to try and outsmart ourselves."