A DEFIANT Chris Scott has embraced the criticism of his influence in Geelong's qualifying final howler, backing his players' actions to do the talking against West Coast on Friday night.

Experts have lined up to question Scott's gameplan and curious call to drop Rhys Stanley last week as the Cats' recent finals woes deepened against the Pies.

While dealing with several injury concerns ahead of the do-or-die clash with the Eagles, Scott was happy to take ownership of last week's performance off his players.

"The over-arching role for me to play in this situation is to absorb a bit of the criticism," Scott said on Tuesday.

"If you're doing your job well, your role is not to spend too much time trying to work out whether the critic is right or wrong, it's to take the feedback from the people that tend to be the most important in your organisation.

"If the criticism is being directed more towards me than the players then I think that's our system working well."

Wingman Mitch Duncan has been ruled out with a medial ligament injury to his left knee, while another setback for Gary Rohan has him unlikely to be named. 

Rohan failed to complete the loss to the Pies after re-injuring his left knee in the final term and was restricted to straight-line running early in Tuesday's main session.

Tim Kelly was a notable absentee from the track, stuck at home with illness, but isn't considered in major doubt to face the Eagles.

Brandan Parfitt, who has missed several matches this year with back tightness, trained away from a main group that included Cam Guthrie, the defensive midfielder expected to be passed fit after missing last week with a calf complaint. 

The Geelong coach said his players would be switched on from the start this week after conceding the first 11 inside 50s against the Pies before going on to lose their fourth opening term from their past five finals. 

"We'd like to be more aggressive, certainly more assertive with the way we approach the game," he said.

"The way we defend when we don't have the ball, the way we get set, the way we try and get the game on our terms. It tends to be more nuance than just how we move the ball."

Scott nominated Guthrie, Stanley, James Parsons, Scott Selwood, Lachie Henderson and Charlie Constable as considerations for recalls this week.

First-year speedster Jordan Clark (elbow) and small forward Lachie Fogarty (ankle) have been ruled out again.