WITH his side's season on the line Geelong coach Chris Scott was not just happy to bank a win against Port Adelaide on Saturday night, but to do it with a side coming into its own.

He was also optimistic about the health of the list despite a couple of injury concerns arising from the hard-fought 12-point win.

Defender Jack Henry was subbed out of the game with a foot issue, while Gary Rohan also had some concerns.

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"In the end we just subbed (Henry) off, he just had his foot stood on," Scott said post-match.

"He's had some issues with his foot (in the past), but this was on the other side. The feedback to me is they're not worried about anything serious, it was just really limiting his movement.

"Rohan had a little bit of an issue there as well."

With Tom Hawkins out of the side with a hamstring injury Ollie Henry stood up in the forward line, kicking four first-half goals, but Scott said Hawkins was a chance to return sooner rather than later.

"He's a possibility," the coach responded when asked if Hawkins might face Collingwood next week.

"It was only a minor hamstring and it's the first one he's ever done, so I think because of that, the likelihood is that we would hold him back a little bit, but we expect him to play before the end of the home and away season."

The loss of talls Hawkins and Mark Blicavs opened the door for Esava Ratugolea to return and Scott praised his intercept defender after another strong game in the role he only stepped into this year.

"It's great to have him back, he was great in the air. I'm really optimistic about what Esava can be for us, and I've been clear from almost the day he was drafted around my optimism with him.

"I've always rated him and I've got high hopes of what he can be, and I'm looking forward to watching it very closely."

After already being forced to make changes to the side that lost last round's Showdown, Port Adelaide was further hit late in the week and then again before Saturday's clash with the late withdrawal of Jeremy Finlayson and Miles Bergman, a situation Ken Hinkley said wasn't ideal.

"Yeah, they hurt, it's a fact," he said after the loss.

"We selected a side on Thursday morning and we made seven changes from the time the side was selected, and then we lost Trent (McKenzie) 10 minutes in, so yeah, they definitely hurt, but every team has challenges."

Whether he can get his best side back on the park anytime soon is uncertain, but Hinkley is sure Port can turn its form around and get back on the winners list.

"I think we're OK, I think we're thereabouts," he said.

"We were poor last week, but in between that we've played Collingwood and Geelong and I thought we played pretty well in both those games without getting a win."