GEELONG star Steve Johnson has stepped up his recovery from the foot injury that has sidelined him for three weeks.
But a final decision on his fitness for Friday night's qualifying final against Hawthorn won't be made until late in the week.
"It's feeling all right," Johnson told CatsTV on Monday morning. "I had a light run this morning, which was the first time I'd been on my feet for about three weeks.
"So it felt fine, and hopefully now I'll build up throughout the week and hopefully be a chance to take on the Hawks."
Johnson hasn't played since suffering foot soreness after Geelong's round 20 win over Fremantle at Simonds Stadium.
But he said there was a "big possibility" that he will be cleared to take on the Hawks.
"I'm really hopeful that I'll be right by Friday night," Johnson said. "After today's session, we'll just have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow
"Then we've got our main training session on Wednesday, so all things going well I'll get through that, pull up well Thursday and I'll be selected to play Friday night."
The positive for Johnson is that his enforced rest has allowed him to get over the other minor injury problems he had been carrying through the ladder part of the season.
"The rest of the body feels pretty good," he said. "Haven't been carrying any other niggles, apart from the foot, so with this feeling a lot better by the weekend, I should feel nice and fresh."
Cats coach Chris Scott is also confident that Johnson will be fit to play.
"Our expectation since the Fremantle game, when he last played, was that he would be available for this game at the very least, and nothing's happened to change that," Scott said on Monday afternoon.
"There is the potential that things could change. But right at the moment, all our people, including Steve, are very confident."
There is a danger that Johnson will be a bit rusty after his layoff but Scott said: "I don't think confidence will be his problem.
"I think he'll go in with a fair level of confidence that he's going to perform somewhere near his best, and he knows he'll need to."
According to his skipper, Johnson has remained upbeat around the club during his time on the sidelines.
"He's actually been quite good," said Joel Selwood. "He's really understood his program, and he's been right over it.
"He's worked with our physios and doctors through that, always eyeing off that first final."
