Geelong VFL player James Tsitas will miss the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a medial ligament strain in his left knee.

But Tsitas, who is favourite to win the VFL Cats' best and fairest, is thankful the injury he suffered in Saturday's loss to the Box Hill Hawks isn't more serious.

“At the time I thought I’d done my ACL,” he told krockfootball.com.au on Monday night.

“It’s a blessing that it isn’t [an ACL], so I’ll look to begin my rehab as soon as possible so I can train at full capacity when pre-season starts and gear up for a big summer and 2018.”

A hard-working midfielder, Tsitas has played every game so far this season.

“I worked hard over the pre-season and early in the year and I was happy with the year I had,” he said.

“It was a step in the right direction but I’ve still got a lot of improvement left in me.”