WHEN the round eight teams are finalised on Thursday and Friday night, it's worth taking Geelong's line-up with a grain of salt.

The Cats have emerged as the kings of the 'late change' this season, with eight last-minute swaps coming from their team selected on Thursday night up until the bounce of the ball.

It is five more than Hawthorn's tally of three late changes with the other 16 clubs falling under them.

AFL rules state that a club must name its final 22 players on Thursday night for Friday and Saturday matches, while Sunday and Monday line-ups need to be lodged on Friday.

Then on match day, final teams are handed to the AFL 90 minutes before a game, with exceptions made for "injury or illness" before game time.

The club medical officer must supply a doctor's certificate to explain a late change to the AFL within one working day of the match. 

Geelong removed Esava Ratugolea from the selected side for the Easter Monday loss to Hawthorn with a hip flexor injury less than half an hour before the match.

Then in round five against Port Adelaide, George Horlin-Smith was plucked out of the warm-up just minutes before the bounce to replace Tom Hawkins who succumbed to back spasms.

It is understood Port Adelaide was left scratching their heads, key defenders Dougal Howard, Tom Clurey, Jack Hombsch and Tom Jonas asked to contend with a shorter Geelong forward set-up. 

Horlin-Smith flew to Adelaide the day before the match as coverage, joining fellow emergency Zach Guthrie waiting in the wings.

"I probably only found out an hour before so it went under the radar," forward Lachie Fogarty told K Rock post-match.

"It probably didn't change things too much, we still had Sav (Esava Ratugolea) and Menz (Daniel Menzel) who went deeper."

Last week Zac Smith suffered a back spasm at a local café on Thursday before he was replaced by Rhys Stanley in the selected side on Friday night.

Scott Selwood, named as an emergency, replaced Stanley in the final team for round three against West Coast despite Tim Kelly acknowledging Selwood would play two days before the match. 

Geelong defender Jed Bews will be a watch for Sunday's clash against Collingwood after copping a knock on his shoulder last week. Harry Taylor is set to be named, but could line up in the VFL as flagged by Chris Scott.

Other last-minute changes this year include Marc Murphy's plantar fascia injury against North Melbourne while Will Langford's back spasms last week occurred in the final stages before Hawthorn's win over Essendon.