Wojcinski appears to be at least another week away as he struggles to overcome the problem, one of few concerns for Mark Thompson’s men, who are three games clear on top of the AFL ladder after 19 rounds.
The Cats don’t expect the injury to hamper the 27-year-old’s ability to hit top speed once he overcomes the complaint.
However it appears the pacy Cat might be racing the clock to make it back to senior football before the finals after Balme confirmed Wojcinski was likely to miss at least one more week – with a probable return to footy then coming through the VFL.
“He’s still a touch sore but those things sometimes are a little bit slow,” Balme said on Tuesday.
“Obviously we’re keen to play him because he’s in our best side but whether he’s right this week I’d probably doubt it.
“I don’t know that playing VFL is necessarily what we’re going to do, it depends on how he’s able to go.
“He mightn’t be able to play a full game so it may be necessary to bring him back through there but he’s no guarantee of being right this week.”
Wojcinski has missed four weeks with the injury.
Geelong’s biggest problem heading into Saturday night’s clash with the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium might be who to omit from a team that won its last match by a whopping 116 points.
Set to regain veteran defender Darren Milburn from suspension and with Paul Chapman (hamstring) a chance to prove his fitness later this week, the reigning premiers might be forced to make at least two changes to the side that thumped Melbourne in Tom Wills Round.
“You can only pick 22,” Balme said.
“That’s kind of good and bad, isn’t it? It’s a good problem to have.”
Balme said while Milburn was set to come into a team that has won its past 10 matches, Chapman was less certain.
“Chappy’s still got to train,” he said.
“We won’t know [if he’ll be right] until he does.”
