WHILE you don't wish ill of a respected and admired foe, it must have been hard for Geelong's rivals to suppress a smile when they read the injury reports out of round 15.

With the exception of an aberration one Friday night earlier this season, it has been the best part of two years since anyone has been able to lay a glove on the Cats. A series of challengers have had a crack at the AFL's best — and fallen disturbingly short. Perhaps now it's no team, only a fickle thing called fate that can bring Geelong undone.

No side goes into a game without at least some belief it can win. But the bottom line since Collingwood's 86-point thumping of Geelong in round nine knocked any creeping complacency out of the Cats has been that, with all parts intact and functioning at least smoothly, Geelong simply cannot be matched.

From the same starting line, anyway. But now that fate, in the case of Gary Ablett, or Dean Solomon's elbow in the case of Cameron Ling, or potentially the match-review panel in the case of Cameron Mooney and Josh Hunt, has intervened, we might get to see whether a handicap can drag Mark Thompson's team, which has won 33 of its past 35 games, back to the field a little. We might get to see whether the Cats' much-vaunted depth is all it appears to be on paper.

However, even that glimmer of hope for the rest of the competition as the next fortnight throws up the season's two most-anticipated games — Geelong versus the Western Bulldogs and Geelong versus Hawthorn — must come with a significant "but". Which is that a victory by the Bulldogs or Hawks over the Cats without Ablett and Ling may raise more questions than it answers.

We've been down this road before — late last season when Port Adelaide journeyed to Skilled Stadium. In the penultimate home-and-away game, Geelong was without three keys in Ling, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood, close to half its engine-room capacity suddenly removed. It lost all right, but only in the final seconds.

We would only find out how irrelevant a form guide that game was five weeks later when, with that same trio back in harness, Geelong broke its 44-year premiership drought with a 119-point grand final victory.

That's not to say the challenges the Cats face over the next two weekends are not considerable. They certainly appear to be of more substance than the Power provided, even before it imploded under the weight of Geelong pressure last grand final day. The Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn have lost one and two of their 15 games respectively, and have the requisite army of onballers to at least match up on their Geelong rivals.

Both have also toughened up considerably in midfield — qualities again on display in their wins yesterday afternoon, with Bulldog grinders Matthew Boyd and Daniel Cross their side's best in the victory over Melbourne, the Hawthorn engine room even more impressive as it easily shrugged off the challenge from Sydney's famously gritty on-ball set-up.

But Geelong covered the seemingly critical absence of injured key defender Matthew Scarlett a while back without so much as a hiccup, and there's not much evidence to make you believe it cannot cover similarly for Ablett and Ling in the middle of the ground.

Yes, Ablett is the spark of genius for the Cats, and yes, Ling the supreme negator of opposition playmakers. But it's not as if Geelong doesn't have enough wizardry even without Ablett — Paul Chapman and Steve Johnson spring to mind. It also has two men who have both done more than their share of defensive jobs, and are in fine form, in Joel Corey and Corey Enright.

Then there's those who didn't even play on Saturday, late withdrawal James Kelly, a handy "in" to say the least, and Brent Prismall a certified walk-up start in any other team's best 22.

Forgotten man David Johnson also has a good track record against the Bulldogs. And while Tom Hawkins is a key forward rather than a midfielder, he could be included if the Cats decide to stretch the Bulldogs' and Hawks' not overly tall back lines. "Tomahawk" booted a cool six for the reserves against Box Hill on Saturday. He, Tom Lonergan, Cameron Mooney and Brad Ottens would test the best of defences.

There are still plenty of options for Geelong as it prepares for the next fortnight, even without such integral parts as Ablett and Ling. Best of all, it still has the manpower to play the sort of game it chooses, rather than react to the opposition. And that's a sobering thought for challengers hoping to cash in on the Cats' injury misfortunes.