GEELONG star Gary Ablett is rated a “90 per cent chance” of taking the field against Melbourne at the MCG on Friday night.

Cats coach Mark Thompson said despite his team taking on the bottom-of-the-ladder Demons this week, there was still plenty to be gained by playing his champion midfielder, who appears to have overcome an ankle injury.

Ablett rolled his right ankle in Geelong’s round 15 win over Fremantle and hasn’t played since, but Thompson said he was keen to get his mercurial ballwinner back into the fray.

“I’d think there’s a bit of value in Gary playing … one (reason) is he’s missed three [matches],” Thompson said.

Thompson said Ablett, who was an almost-unbackable Brownlow medal favourite before the injury, has since been joined on the first line of betting by teammate and 2007 winner Jimmy Bartel.

The coach said Ablett had ticked most of the boxes needed to satisfy the Cats’ medical staff.

“He trained last night [Tuesday] and got through with the group, so that’s a real positive, and he’s pulled up well this morning,” he said.

“So he’s got a bit more training to do tomorrow morning. He’s probably about a 90 per cent chance [to play].

“Something would have to happen tomorrow at training, he’d have to change direction or land on it and pull up sore for him not to play.”

The news isn’t as good for Paul Chapman or David Wojcinski, despite both showing significant signs of improvement.

Wojcinski has missed three matches with an achilles injury and his lay-off is set to continue.

“He’ll probably miss one more and play the following week,” Thompson said.

“This week it’s shown a lot of improvement but up until then it hadn’t really improved at all, so we’re pretty optimistic he’ll play next week.”

Chapman was seen on Skilled Stadium running at good pace on Wednesday and even kicking for goal from mid-range.

“Chappy’s going to play next week,” Thompson said.

The coach said impressive youngsters such as Jason Davenport and Simon Hogan had been “in and around the mark” this season and could still hope to earn a senior debut this year should the Cats require replacements in coming weeks.