Top teams St Kilda and Geelong have long injury lists, but face vastly different scenarios with three weeks until the AFL finals.

The unbeaten Saints could bring back more than half the eight top players who were missing from their side for Saturday's upset win over Hawthorn.

Captain Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna, Nick Dal Santo, Sam Fisher, Steven Baker, Brendon Goddard and Lenny Hayes were rested for the match while Sam Gilbert was already missing.

Several of those players will return for Sunday's Etihad Stadium game against Essendon.

The second-placed Cats also had seven players drop out of their side for the round-15 loss to Brisbane, but injuries continue to dog them.

Darren Milburn (ankle), Cameron Mooney (concussion), Mathew Stokes (leg) and David Wojcinski (ankle) were hurt in Friday night's upset loss to Carlton.

Of those, Milburn and Stokes seem in the most trouble ahead of Saturday night's away match against Sydney.

Steve Johnson resumed in the match after several weeks out with a hip injury, but he still looks less than 100 per cent fit.

One positive sign for the Cats is Brad Ottens' ongoing comeback, with the ruck-forward again showing good signs in the VFL.

Adelaide forward Brett Burton is nursing a sore lower back after he hit the ground hard in Saturday night's loss to Collingwood.

Ninth-placed Essendon could regain Andrew Lovett and Andrew Welsh from leg injuries, while 10th-placed Hawthorn will monitor Jarryd Roughead's corked thigh from the loss to the Saints as those two teams try to stay in finals contention.

Also on Saturday, Hawks star Lance Franklin gave footballers everywhere a reminder why they should always wear their mouthguards.

Franklin's mouthguard was tucked into his sock when former team-mate Zac Dawson collected him across the mouth in an attempted spoil.

One of Franklin's front teeth flew out of his mouth and two Hawks trainers spent several minutes searching the Aurora Stadium surface before retrieving it.

Franklin was due to visit a dentist on Sunday to have the damage fixed.

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