Stokes in the mix: Harley

GEELONG captain Tom Harley admits that a few players will be feeling restless in the lead-up to selection for this week's grand final against St Kilda but has no idea if Mathew Stokes will return.

"It's a good problem to have from a club's point-of-view," Harley said on Monday morning at Skilled Stadium.

"Obviously for the individuals it might be a bit restless, but I think the beauty is that we've been team-focused all along for the past three years, and whatever team we put out is representing the club, we're not representing individuals at all.

"The coaches will make the right decision on the make-up of the side and the best structures and things like that.

"So I would imagine that would make that decision as soon as they can and get on with it."

Small forward Stokes withdrew from Saturday night's preliminary final side with groin soreness. After the match, coach Mark Thompson intimated that, if fit, Stokes was likely to be slotted straight back in for the big game.

Stokes carried a similar problem into the 2008 grand final and performed poorly which made his decision to pull out of Saturday night's preliminary final all the more critical for the club.

No player shapes as a stand-out omission after a strong team performance drove their 73-point victory over Collingwood.

Geelong has had its share of selection dramas in the last two grand finals, with Mark Blake and David Wojcinski being dropped in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Both players are part of the 2009 team but their positions look safe.

Harley said he expected Stokes to train on Monday morning with the rest of the group and put his hand up for a recall.

"I'm sure he will - he trained fully on Friday, that's my understanding, so it was a really selfless call by him on the weekend to say he wasn't 100 per cent right to go, so he's certainly in the mix, I'd imagine," he said.

"He'll probably have more to do today than the other guys just by virtue of the fact that he didn't play on the weekend.

"The other guys will be in real recovery mode, and he'll be putting his hand up, I'd imagine."

Harley said the line-up of the Saints would also be pivotal to any decision on changes to the team.

"All the names are being bandied around as to who's going to be in and who's going to be out, but it really does come down to structures," he said.

"The coaches will look at the way St Kilda go, and the way we play our best football, and we'll go from there, I think.

"We've got a full list to pick from, a really healthy list, so when you're planning to play in a grand final, that's probably the best case [scenario]."

Up the road at St Kilda, favourite son Max Hudghton looks likely to miss out on the biggest game of all after a stellar career.