GEELONG spearhead Jeremy Cameron is set to miss at least a month of matches after scans revealed he had suffered his third right hamstring strain of the year.
Cameron was subbed out of Friday night's win over Essendon after reporting tightness in his lower hamstring.
He had previously flagged tightness in both hamstrings prior to the match but was cleared to play after a pre-game fitness test.
The first-year Cat kicked three goals to kickstart Geelong's win, however scans on Saturday confirmed he had strained his hamstring again.
"Unfortunately, this injury will see Jeremy miss several weeks," Geelong head of football Simon Lloyd said.
"Our medical and conditioning teams are working closely with Jeremy on his rehab program. It will be a matter of monitoring how he progresses to then determine a timeline on his return to football."
The 28-year-old, who signed from GWS on a five year-deal at the end of last season, first strained his right hamstring during training in January.
He was selected to play in the Cats' season opener against Adelaide in March, however, re-injured his hamstring in the Cats' final main session before the match.
He subsequently missed five games and made his Cats debut in round six, kicking 28 goals from his 10 games to date.
Coach Chris Scott backed the club's medical team in the wake of the injury post-match on Friday night.
"Iffy's probably a good description of how it was pre-game," Scott said after the 41-point win.
"I think more than people realise, there are really hard decisions that need to be made by the medical staff and he had a bit of tightness there pre-game but they were confident the right decision was made for him to play.
"I'd like to defend our medical staff as much as possible because they've done a fantastic job for us this year and this was one of those really challenging decisions.
"They've got really difficult decisions to make, they don't need to defer to a coach who's got no idea what he's talking about.
"He got a little bit of a cork up near his glute … his tightness was right down low in the hamstring. The medical staff are confident that he hasn't done a significant injury, but it was just not getting better."
Esava Ratugolea looms as Cameron's likely replacement to face Carlton this weekend after he was rested against the Bombers. Ratugolea had been playing splitting his time between ruck and attack in recent weeks before his break with Rhys Stanley taking the ruck duties alongside Mark Blicavs.
Veteran tall Josh Jenkins could also present as an option in attack, while 190cm marking forward Ben Jarvis kicked two goals in the VFL win over Essendon.
