It was initially feared that Ottens had ruptured an ACL during the match against Richmond and would miss the season. But after the match the club was hopeful that he had only torn his medial ligament and would miss four to six matches.
However, they sent him for further scans on Monday and they provided even better news.
Ottens has now been diagnosed with a slight grade one medial ligament strain and is expected to miss two to four weeks.
He injured his knee when he fell awkwardly after a ruck contest in the first quarter of Geelong’s win over the Tigers. It brought a premature end to a horror day for the ruckman after he also injured himself in a collision in the pre-game warm-up.
The right-knee injury is the latest setback for the premiership ruckman who missed the first nine games of last season with a foot injury.
The news was terrible however for draftee Mitch Brown with scans confirming he will miss the entire 2009 season with a broken leg.
The club’s first draft pick of the 2008 NAB AFL Draft suffered the break during a VFL practice match on the weekend at Skilled Stadium.
Ottens was an integral part of Geelong's 2007 premiership team and also played one of his finest games in the cliffhanging preliminary final victory over Collingwood the week before.
He put in another fine performance in the 2008 grand final which the Cats lost.
