With a match under the roof at Telstra Dome this weekend, Geelong coach Mark Thompson took his team indoors to escape the downpour on Tuesday.

The Cats take on an in-form Collingwood side on Saturday night and Thompson used the dry conditions to undertake some important skill work.

He described the team as in good spirits despite last weekend’s last-quarter fadeout against the Kangaroos in Canberra and hopes every player continues to work hard in order to finish the season on a good note.

“At this stage they’ve managed to keep their heads. It’s important that they do for the rest of the year. We don’t want to tail off towards the end. We want to be really competitive,” Thompson said.

The team looks to be again without skipper and ruckman Steven King, who has been battling an achilles injury all season.

“He’s unlikely to play this week. We’ve just got to reassess over the next couple of weeks to see how he pulls up and whether he plays again (this season),” Thompson said.

“He’s doing some running during the week and he’s not pulling up well from that so he’s got no chance of pulling up well from a game.”

Thompson said he would be greatly missed, adding: “Every year he’s had a full season he’s won the best and fairest and he’s obviously one of the elite two or three/four ruckman in the competition. And our captain.”

Thompson rated Tom Harley and Peter Riccardi, who both didn’t make the trip to Canberra, as ’50-50’ chances to play this week.

Harley has a back-related hamstring problem while Riccardi missed with an injured foot.

Meanwhile, the Cats are also having problems upgrading a rookie onto the senior list after Marc Woolnough’s retirement with knee problems.

Football operations manager Garry Davidson said the club was working through a series of issues relating to the Total Player Payments with the league in the hope that a rookie-listed player can be promoted onto the senior list.

While Davidson indicated a player would only be promoted if they were ready to play. He nominated either Andrew Carrazzo or Shannon Byrnes - who has a shoulder injury - as the two most likely.

A decision needs to be made before round 19, which is the cut-off date for any rookies to be elevated.