Skip to content
InjuryIQ

Geelong Cats vs Essendon — AFL 2026 Round 22

Round 22

Match details

Home & Away
Round 22
Geelong Cats
vs
Essendon
—
—Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.
Round health
—
—Round Health Score (0–100), last 5 rounds. Scores drift down league-wide as the season's injury load builds — read the slope relative to the league, not the level.

Round health not yet available.

Season —
Season —

Head-to-head

7Ongoing injuries9
2Long-term (LTI)4
9 dDays' rest6 d
771 kmLast month air km1,375 km
Squad stabilityGEE 12thESS 6th of 18

Value-weighted players used — 1st = most churn of key players, 18th = most settled. Weighted by player value (our metric), not raw squad size.

Soft-tissue = the OSIICS muscle/tendon family — the injuries most prone to recurrence (GEE 2, ESS 3).

What do these scores mean?
Round Health
— point-in-time (0–100, 100 = no injury absences), weighting current ongoing absences on a fixed scale comparable across rounds. The league average drifts down as the season's injury load builds, so low late-season numbers are normal.
Season Health
— cumulative season-to-date: value-weighted injury burden, availability and incidence. Load-managed rests are excluded from both.
Sat 8 Aug · 4:35pm·GMHBA Stadium, Geelong
State
VIC
Surface
Natural grass
Roof
Open roof
Capacity
36,000

Possible returns

Currently-injured players who could feature — fitness tests, squad signals and projected returns.

GEE
  • Jack Henry
    In contention
    Head/Neck — Neck Injury (General)Due today
  • Mark O'ConnorDEF
    In contention
    Quadriceps — Quadriceps StrainDue today
ESS

Returnees to watch

Recently back from injury and still in the elevated-reinjury window — risk concentrates in the first games back, especially for soft-tissue.

GEE
  • Jacob Molierback from quadriceps · 1 game backSoft-tissue return — recurrence risk is highest in the first games back.
ESS

Current injuries

The confirmed outs for both squads (13 across both), ranked by impact. Players in doubt are listed under Possible returns above.

GEE carry the cleaner bill of health — ESS enter with 9 ongoing injuries to GEE's 7, 4 of them long-term.

GEE5 out
  • Harley Barker
    LTI

    Knee — ACL Tear

    Long-term
    Due Oct 1
  • Toby ConwayRUC
    LTI

    Foot — Navicular Stress Fracture

    Long-term
    Injury-proneDue Aug 22
  • Jeremy CameronFWD

    Collarbone — Clavicle Fracture

    Moderate
    Due Aug 22
  • Tanner BruhnMID

    Head/Neck — Concussion

    Minor
    Due Jul 24
  • Rhys StanleyRUC
    Recurrence

    Hamstring — Hamstring Strain

    Minor
    FragileDue Jul 25

Signals

  • 1recurrence
  • 1awaiting diagnosis
  • 2durability-fragile
  • Body regions: 2× head/neck
  • What they lose: 2 ruckmen, 1 defender, 1 midfielder, 1 forward

Recurrence flags repeat injuries to the same body region within 24 months.

Injury classifications use the OSIICS system (Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System). © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.