Geelong's No.1 ruckman Brad Ottens will make his long-awaited season's debut for the Cats in Saturday night's clash with Carlton.

Ottens was close to returning from his foot tendon injury for last Friday's match against Collingwood, before the Geelong medical staff decided to err on the side of caution and give him one more week on the sidelines.

The Cats then lost their first match of 2008, being humbled by Collingwood by 86 points.

"He's trained for another week and hasn't got injured," Geelong coach Mark Thompson said.

"He'll join main training tomorrow with the group and do a limited bit of training on Friday and then play.

"Just for him to get back into form, it's going to be at least a month."

But utility Paul Chapman is only a 50-50 chance of playing against the Blues after withdrawing from the Collingwood game with hamstring tightness.

Carlton will be without centre half-back Jarrad Waite, who lost his challenge against a one-match striking ban at the tribunal on Tuesday night.

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