GEELONG defender Lachie Henderson will be placed on the long-term injury list this week as he continues to battle an ongoing knee injury.

Henderson underwent his third surgery since the end of last season earlier this month, with coach Chris Scott refusing to put a timeline on his return.

"My advice is to not ask about him in the next few weeks because the answer will still be the same, it'll be longer-term," Scott said on Thursday.

"By definition, most of our injured players are getting closer, but 'Hendo' seems to be the exception to the rule.

"He seems to be getting further away, so I'm going to stop talking about it because I keep getting it wrong.

AFL rules state that once placed on the long-term injury list, a player cannot play AFL or VFL for a minimum of six weeks.

Second-year midfielder Quinton Narkle will be taken off the list after recovering from surgery for his ACL in June last year.

Meanwhile, defender Harry Taylor made a significant step in his recovery following a tear to his plantar fascia in round one, joining in parts of training on Thursday.

Nakia Cockatoo was out of his knee brace, and joined in for some running after suffering a PCL injury in round three.

Lincoln McCarthy's return to football after a quad niggle will need to wait at least another fortnight – he wasn't selected for a VFL return this week, while the Cats have a bye the week after.

"Lincoln won't play this week, that disappoints him because he thinks he's ready," Scott said.

"We just want to play the long game with Lincoln.

"There's also a strong argument, which I think Lincoln's come around to, that if he takes a little bit longer he'll be able to come in and play with performance in mind, as opposed to coming in and getting a half in the VFL where all he cares about is just getting through."

Geelong's VFL team takes on Casey on Saturday night at Casey Fields.