COLLINGWOOD defender Harry O'Brien says the Magpies' bye last weekend could prove to be a blessing in disguise despite a number of teams struggling to get going again after the week off.
Nine teams have lost the week following the bye so far with just Geelong and Hawthorn recording victories the next round.
West Coast and St Kilda were also able to win after their respective byes but were playing sides that had had the previous weekend off as well.
O'Brien said the players considered their time off as a positive and were confident they would meet the Cats on Friday night a much fresher outfit because of it.
"We can't go by what other teams have done, I know a lot of other teams haven't won games after the break," O'Brien said on Tuesday.
"I take myself back last year and we sort of started to gain our momentum after the mid-season break. I know it's a bit earlier but we'll soon find out.
"The club's been very big on keeping us fresh, keeping our minds clear. A few of the boys got away and got to spend some quality time with their families so I think it's only a positive thing."
O'Brien said Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson were expected to play but Darren Jolly remained a likely omission with a knee injury.
Tarrant trained on Tuesday at Gosch's Paddock but Johnson was restricted to running laps.
"As far as I know, all the boys are fine apart for Jolly so hopefully the boys pull up fine and I'm sure they'll be playing," he said.
Captain Nick Maxwell left the track early after completing the warm up but before the session commenced O'Brien was confident in his skipper's fitness despite reports he was sore after the win over the Western Bulldogs.
"I don't think that's the case. He'll be training today and we'll have him down in the backline this week," he said.
"We've been away from each other from quite awhile and the break we've had is an opportunity for us to rest our bodies.
"He didn't do much training last week but by all reports, he'll be fine."
O'Brien said Jolly, who had a minor operation on his knee after Anzac Day and missed the Dogs' game, will be an obvious out against the Cats and Brad Ottens but backed young 32-gamer Cameron Wood to do the job.
"[Jolly's] our No.1 ruckman but we think Wood is an adequate ruckman and he'll be trying to harness this opportunity he has to take the next step in his football development and also add something to the team," he said.
O'Brien said the undefeated Cats presented the Pies with one of their biggest challenges so far in the much-anticipated top of the table clash at the MCG.
"We're both on top of the ladder so absolutely. We've got a great deal of respect for Geelong," he said.
"They've been up the top for so long and they've tweaked their game plan, which has allowed them to play a bit more defensive football. They're always going to be tough to beat."
He also said the Magpies would take some confidence from the last two times they played Geelong despite those alterations to the Cats' game plan this season.
"They had their measure over us for four or five years so to be able to beat them last year was quite a big thing for us," he said.
"You do take a lot out of that but we haven't analysed last year's games because we know that they've tweaked a few things.
"You can go into a game with confidence knowing you can beat that team."
The Pies beat the Cats in round 19 last year by 22 points before easily accounting for them by 41 points in the preliminary final in September.
