IT’S exactly what Geelong fans wouldn’t have wanted.

Patrick Dangerfield looks set to miss Round 1 after suffering a suspected hamstring injury against Essendon in the JLT Community Series.

The midfielder left the ground just before quarter-time in Colac, pulling up lame from a kick.

Round 18

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“The early indications are that it is to his hamstring. That of course would put him out for Round 1, and it would probably put him out for the next couple of weeks too,” Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph told Fox Footy after the game.

“He just pulled up so jagged — you would think that this is clearly going to be a three or four week injury.”

With two weeks until Geelong’s Round 1 clash against Melbourne, that would see Dangerfield miss that game and be at risk of missing the Easter Monday fixture against Hawthorn.

In the rooms after the incident Dangerfield was spotted taking his shoes off and went straight into the doctors’ room. He did not return to the game.

“He knows he’s got an issue. How big, we don’t know — he may just be being ultra-cautious,” Garry Lyon said at the time on Fox Footy.

Dangerfield did not appear to be icing his leg or having much treatment at halftime and then left the ground entirely.

Geelong lost the game 15.7 (97) to Essendon’s 15.11 (101).

With less than two weeks before the start of the home and away season, it’s less than ideal for Geelong, given Gary Ablett is also under an injury cloud.

Ablett is expected to play in Round 1 after battling through a hamstring injury suffered in a match simulation training session in late February.

Dangerfield’s incident wasn’t the only Cats injury news from the first quarter, with Rhys Stanley looking unlikely to feature in Round 1 after suffering a left calf injury.

The Cats play their first game of the home and away season against Melbourne at the MCG on March 25.

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