GEELONG coach Chris Scott isn't panicking about the Cats' 110-point loss to the Sydney Swans, but has urged his players not to rely on their reputations as they look forward to Friday night’s clash with Carlton.

The Cats were thrashed last Thursday night, as they suffered without defenders Corey Enright and Tom Lonergan, while Andrew Mackie was subbed out with a back complaint.

While all three are expected to play this week, along with Jordan Murdoch (foot), Scott said it was important the players realised previous results counted for little. 

"We don't write it (the game against the Swans) off. I think that's the easy way out," Scott said on Wednesday.

"We spend a lot of time on it, as painful as it was, and there are some consistent things that are plain for everyone to see.

"We need to prove the way we play works every single week.

"At times, we've let ourselves down this year.

"We're not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We've got a lot of confidence in what we're doing – it doesn't guarantee anything though.

"We need to make sure we review it thoroughly and put our hands up when required and perform well this week when it matters."

The Cats are confident Lonergan will return from concussion and "almost as confident" Enright will return from an ankle injury.

Both trained on Wednesday, along with Mackie and Murdoch (foot/cork) who were both hurt against the Swans.

Scott said the response from his players so far this week had been positive ahead of Friday night's game at Etihad Stadium against the Blues.

The coach said the debacle against the Swans shouldn’t count as a reason to doubt where the Cats could get to in 2014.

"I think it's important to take a step back in times like these," he said.

"The reality for us is we've played some good opposition in the first half of the year.

"We've played some good footy ourselves and we're seven and three.

"We're a little bit behind the ladder leaders but in that group that's competing for a top four position.

"We're still really confident in what we can achieve and we certainly haven't fallen so far behind the eight ball that we can't get to where we want to be.

"We're all accountable at this footy club and everyone who was involved in that game made some serious mistakes and did some things we need to rectify.

"We're very confident internally we've addressed those things and we'll perform better this weekend."

Josh Walker is in the selection frame if the Cats decide to bolster their forward line against the Blues, while Scott said their three recent draftees – Darcy Lang, Jarrad Jansen and Jake Kolodjashnij were close to a debut.

The expected return of Alan Christensen from a pre-season back injury in the VFL this weekend is another positive for the Cats heading into the second half of the season.

"We have quite a few players pushing through now that we're going to seriously think about," Scott said.

"We also get a couple of highly credentialed players coming back through the VFL over the next couple of weeks.

"Some options we haven't had are going to open up."

Scott also confirmed Josh Cowan had suffered a "minor" setback in his recovery from an Achilles complaint.

The young midfielder debuted impressively in 2011 but the Achilles injury sustained in early 2012 has meant he has not played a senior game since.