GEELONG ruckman Brad Ottens has suffered yet another set back in his recovery from a medial ligament tear with coach Mark Thompson admitting he has no idea when the 29-year-old might return.

Ottens injured the medial ligament in his right knee in the round two win over Richmond, but has continually hit hurdles in what has been a long and frustrating recovery.

“He’s hit a bit of a wall and he can’t improve,” Thompson said.

“He’s been running and doing everything but we need him to keep improving and he’s not.

“We can’t progress him too much more until he gets a bit stronger in some of the areas and some of the exercises we are trying to get him to do.”

Thompson said he felt the same frustration as fans in regards to Ottens’ recovery, but was confident he would get back.

“Unfortunately, and I know we get a lot of criticism about putting him down for two or three weeks, but he’s still two or three weeks away,” he said.

“We want him back quickly and it’s not happening so there is a bit of angst there.”

Thompson said the best-case scenario was to get a minimum of four home and away games into Ottens to lead into September, but said he would consider throwing the 200cm ruckman straight into a final with no lead-up matches under his belt.

While Ottens sits on the sidelines on Saturday night, he could be joined by teammates Harry Taylor (concussion), Darren Milburn (ankle) and Steve Johnson (hip), who are all in doubt for the upcoming clash against the Lions.

“With Taylor we’ll have to wait until Friday, and with Stevie (Johnson), he’s a chance to play but we’re not guaranteed he’ll play,” Thompson said.

The Cat coach said Tom Lonergan is on standby as a replacement for Taylor as he searches for match-ups for Brisbane duo Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw.

While beating Brisbane is foremost on the coach’s mind, he said the club would take a never-say-never approach to the possibility of recruiting Swan bad-boy Barry Hall.

“Highly unlikely, but you never say no,” Thompson said.