GEELONG forward Mitch Clark is expected to miss the vital clash against Essendon on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium after suffering a calf injury against West Coast.

Cats coach Chris Scott said Clark's injury was not on the serious end of the scale but the medical staff were not yet able to be definitive about how many games the forward would miss.

"Right at the moment we're working towards a recovery program that gets him going in a week or two," Scott said.

The Cats are more hopeful that ruckman Rhys Stanley will face Essendon after he missed the second half of the West Coast game due to a quad injury.

Stanley's absence would be significant, as Hamish McIntosh and Dawson Simpson remain sidelined with calf and shoulder injuries respectively. Nathan Vardy's knee has kept him sidelined for more than a season.

Scott said Josh Walker could return and share rucking duties with Mark Blicavs and indicated that rookie Michael Luxford and defender Jake Kolodjashnij were in line for a debut.

"Those guys are very strong chances to play," Scott said. 

Luxford has a basketball background and had not played football before joining Geelong.

"He's an interesting case study. If it weren't for Mark Blicavs we'd be talking about how remarkable it is, but you can't keep talking about these unique situations when you keep rolling them out," Scott said. 

"He came in with a very similar attitude to that of Blicavs, which was if it was to work he needed to learn as much as he could about the game and immerse himself in the AFL and Geelong culture, which he has done."