Cats football manager Steve Hocking says both Daniel Menzel and Steven Motlop are "up for selection" for Saturday's blockbuster clash with Richmond at Simonds Stadium.

Menzel (knee) and Motlop (groin) have missed the past two matches due to a combination of niggling injuries and flagging fitness and form.

"People look at them from [outside] and think they're not performing to the level they need to," Hocking told Cats Media on Wednesday afternoon.

"There's generally reasons for that, so our role is to make sure we're managing those players to the level they need to be."

Due to their injuries, Menzel and Motlop had been unable to do much training between games.

As Hocking explained, players "can only do that for so long before their performance starts to wane".

Both Menzel and Motlop have been put through quite an intense training program over the past fortnight.

"In [Menzel's] session last Friday, the fitness staff had a certain level they wanted him to get to and he actually progressed beyond that because he was just feeling so good," Hocking said.

"So we feel like he's in a really good space and has recovered from that knee soreness.

"Motlop's just been tight in the groin and we wanted to get some conditioning into him."

The Cats will be without Joel Selwood (ankle) and suspended duo Tom Hawkins and Mitch Duncan against the Tigers.

But superstar midfielder Patrick Dangerfield will headline the inclusions.

"We'll consider Rhys Stanley," Hocking said. "Also, there's some rookies doing really well at VFL-level, so there is talent to come back into the team.

"Yes, we're certainly losing key players but we've got some talent coming back in as well."

Hocking is excited about the Cats coming up against Richmond, which is in the top-four and has won its past four matches but hasn't beaten Geelong since 2006.

"We're very excited about playing them down here," Hocking said. "We haven't had them down here for a number of years.

"So that'll be a wake-up call for them, coming down to these dimensions.

"As far as the way we're going to play, we're just going to take Richmond on. We need to do that.

"We need to win this game and roll with the group that we send out there.

"I've got absolute confidence that they'll deliver the right outcome for us."