Geelong premiership forward Mathew Stokes made his return to match action on Sunday, lining up for the Cats VFL unit against Box Hill.

Stokes looked like he hadn’t missed a beat before heading off with an ankle injury early in the final quarter.

''It's a fairly minor ankle (injury), it caught him off guard more than anything,” Cats VFL coach Dale Amos said.

“He's okay. We left him off because he'd almost played what we intended him to play - 75 percent game time.

''He played a fair bit in the first half and we had to bring down his time a bit in the second half.''

Stokes was playing for the first time following a club suspension after being arrestred by police earlier this year.

Stokes was impressive despite his time away from the club..

''He played well,” Amos said.

“His intensity was fine, he got involved in a lot of contests. He's prepared really well. His attitude's been first rate, he's been really respectful and humble and just gone about his business.

''Assuming his ankle is okay, we'll up his game time again next week. He looked really sharp, I was really impressed with the way he played. There were good signs, he didn't look like he was short of a gallop, he looked like he was fitter than that.''