ISAAC Smith has full faith in Esava Ratugolea to step up in Geelong's defence with vice-captain Tom Stewart to miss up to a month due to a knee injury.

Stewart will be sidelined for up to four weeks after being injured during the Cats' 22-point loss to Collingwood in round one.

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Ratugolea was something of a fresh face in Chris Scott's side, given he only played four matches last season, but impressed against the Pies on Friday night and even picked up six coaches' votes.

His shift into defence may prove even more significant given Stewart's injury and the cloud that hangs over Sam De Koning, although the youngster has been cleared of serious damage and is hopeful of facing Carlton on Thursday night.

"I'm looking forward to seeing 'Sav' go at it again because I thought he was one of the best players on the ground on Friday night," Smith said.

"I thought he was really impressive. He's probably had two or three tough years, thrown around in the ruck and up forward. 

"Not much in defence, but I think he showed the competition on Friday night what talent he has. If he plays to that level he can be a very good player."

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The 2022 Norm Smith medallist says the Cats are still finding their chemistry with a host of new faces in the team. 

Carlton – fresh off a draw against Richmond – awaits the reigning premiers at the MCG on Thursday night.

And while the Cats are facing a 0-2 start, the quintessentially laid-back Smith doesn't harbour any concerns.

"I don't think 0-2 is panic stations at all," Smith said. 

"You'd love to be building towards September and trying to play your best football and I thought we timed it really well last year. And we have had some changes this year. 

"We've got three or four new players into the side that we're trying to fit in. We're under no illusions we wouldn't be playing our best footy early on. 

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"But the aim is we get it up and going as quickly as possible and put ourselves in a position to challenge at the back end of the year."

Recruits Ollie Henry and Tanner Bruhn debuted in the blue and white hoops in the loss to Collingwood last Friday.

Jack Bowes is likely to feature against the Blues, after a half in the VFL at the weekend. 

While Smith was happy to weigh into the debate around the bump – for the record, he says players have a greater duty of care than ever to their fellow players – he didn't bite when it came to the state of the MCG surface. 

"I'll leave that to bigger and uglier heads than me," the 34-year-old said. 

"We saw four great games of footy and I'll leave it at that."