Neil Craig doesn't want to think what would happen to his Adelaide Crows if they lost their two defensive pillars.

So he can only marvel at Geelong's ability, on paper at least, to cover the absence of their key defensive duo, Matthew Scarlett and Harry Taylor.

The Cats, who host the fifth-placed Crows in Geelong on Saturday, summoned Steve Johnson and skipper Tom Harley as replacements.

The mercurial Johnson will make his first outing after a month on the sidelines with a hip injury, while Harley has missed the past two matches with a knee complaint.

While not strictly like-for-like replacements for Scarlett and Taylor, Geelong's ability to recall two premiership heroes leaves Crows coach Craig envious.

The injury-forced absences, and two Geelong losses in the past month, has led to some pundits talking up Adelaide's prospects of inflicting the first defeat to the Cats on their home turf since round 21, 2007.

But Craig says such talk is cheap.

"If any team wants to challenge Geelong and St Kilda at the moment, there's only one way to challenge them and that is not talking about it," Craig said on Friday.

"You can't just talk about what you're going to do to them - you've got to show them. It's about action.

"Whether it be us, Essendon, the Brisbane Lions or whichever club wants to put their hands up and say `we want to be the next challengers here' - well, you have to show us what you can do."

Two Cats will celebrate milestones on Saturday, with reliable defender Darren Milburn chalking up his 250th AFL game and Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel notching his 150th.

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