ONE GEELONG player already knows his place in Saturday’s grand final side is gone should teammate Paul Chapman get through Wednesday's main training session at Skilled Stadium.

Coach Mark Thompson conceded that while several names had been floated in the media this week, it had already been decided who will miss should his star half-forward be passed fit.

"There’s one," Thompson said. "He would have some idea.

"I think the guys that have all been mentioned this week, they’re all on notice … we’re looking forward to getting the decision out of the way so that everybody knows where they’re going."

Asked the reason for the likely omission, Thompson replied: "[It] may be more about team balance, maybe that someone’s just awfully unlucky to be forced out that probably doesn’t deserve to be forced out."

Chapman missed Geelong's preliminary final win against the Western Bulldogs with a hamstring strain sustained in the qualifying final against St Kilda, but is a strong chance to play against Hawthorn.

His coach has deemed him an automatic inclusion if fully fit, with the tough half-forward a "big-game" player who thoroughly deserves his place in the team.

Thompson’s gut feel is that the 26-year-old, best afield against Hawthorn in round 17 until first injuring his hamstring, will run onto the MCG on Saturday.

"We are confident," he said.

"We may as well let you know that he ran at 100 per cent and did a fair volume of work yesterday and pulled up well today.

"The only thing he hasn’t done is train with the group and he’ll do that tomorrow … and the players have asked the match committee and Paul himself to only play if he is fit and right to play.

"If he gets through tomorrow's training session which will be equal to everybody else then he will basically be right to play and that’ll be a fair indicator for us."

Thompson faced a similar predicament last year when ruckman Mark Blake was omitted for the grand final after playing 22 games, including the qualifying and preliminary finals.

Experienced big man Steven King, traded to St Kilda after the premiership, took his place.

"I'm sure the player will be upset, but take it like Mark Blake did last year," Thompson said, adding that this year he'd "take a helmet" when breaking the news.

"He was really upset with us and threatened to leave the club, but we talked him into staying and he decided to stay and it's worked out beautifully for him really."