Geelong will be without tall forward Mitch Brown for the remainder of the AFL season.

Cats' coach Chris Scott said on Tuesday Brown will require shoulder surgery after suffering an injury in last week's loss to Essendon.

The youngster has had heartache every year since being drafted in 2008, battling a broken leg and an earlier shoulder problem which kept him out until midway through this season.

However Geelong rate him highly and are prepared to take a cautious approach to his fitness.

"Unfortunately, Mitch is going to have to have surgery on that shoulder," Scott said.

"There was an option for him to persist through, but Mitch is a really important long-term player for us.

"We think he can play 10 years of AFL footy, so we're going to take our time with his rehab.

"We'll get the surgery done as quickly as possible and look to get him up and running for a full pre-season in 2012.

"Two shoulder surgeries and a broken leg in two-and-a-half years of footy is really disappointing for him but he's a quality young man. He's a first-round draft pick for us.

"A lot of people around the place have got a lot of time for him so, while it's disappointing, we've just got to keep reminding him and reminding ourselves that the long term is the most important for him."

Scott said Brown is disappointed but understands he needs to be patient.

"He understands that we have faith in him and we're going to stick by him.

"While the short term is devastating for him, the long term is still very promising."

The Cats tackle West Coast at Patersons Stadium on Friday night and are keen to bounce back after losing their first match of the season last week.

Scott said cracking the Eagles' defence will be the key if the Cats are to topple their fifth-placed rivals.

"We think we move the ball pretty well when we are at our best," Scott said.

"We think we've got an offensive system that worked pretty well against modern defensive systems.

"When sides get the opportunity to defend the way they want to, it's extremely hard to move it through.

"When everybody gets set defensively, the way they want to be, it's extremely hard to move the ball."

Scott said for Geelong to win they will have to prevent West Coast's backline getting into a rhythm.

"Modern footy really is about who can get the game played on their terms," he said.

"Last week, we weren't able to do that and it cost us.

"We've learnt from every game this year but there were certainly some things that they (Essendon) did that we addressed and hopefully have improved upon."

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