Best of mates? The field umpire asks Cats Steve Johnson and Hayden Ballantyne to cool it. Source: Getty Images
Geelong's Steve Johnson crunches Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne during their Round 1 NAB Cup match at Patersons Stadium. Source: Getty Images
GEELONG will learn today if mercurial forward Steve Johnson has any case to answer after his tangle with Fremantle antagonist Hayden Ballantyne on Saturday night.
The Cats returned to Victoria late yesterday, with Mathew Stokes sporting a moon boot after wrenching his ankle in Geelong's game-one win over West Coast.
The Cats say they are yet to know the full extent of the injury but admit Stokes is unlikely to play in the short-term.
Johnson appeared to make slight contact to Ballantyne's midriff with a swinging right arm during Geelong's game two loss against the Dockers at Subiaco.
If Johnson is suspended he will have to serve the ban in the home-and-away season under a change to the tribunal system.
Johnson is walking a suspension tightrope, given he has 80 carry-over points after accepting a one-match ban for rough conduct against Sydney's Dan Hannebery in Round 23 last year.
But changes to the tribunal system mean his loading for past offences, which was 40 per cent last year, has been dissolved.
Calculations for a player's poor tribunal record now only take into account the previous two seasons, down from three.
And to qualify for a poor record, a player needs to have been suspended for two or more matches within the previous two years.
Johnson's only suspension since the start of the 2011 season was that incident with Hannebery.
His three-week suspension for his infamous tangle with Steven Baker in 2010 no longer counts against him.
Cats coach Chris Scott denied there was any lingering ill-feeling from last year's heated Round 1 match against Fremantle, in which Ballantyne was suspended for striking Paul Chapman behind play, before being floored by Matthew Scarlett.
"I would be amazed (if there was still friction), none that I've seen. There tends to not be too much friction in NAB 1," Scott said.
"I didn't see what happened. I know (Ballantyne) was down for a long time. I was more concerned with how quickly he got up and set up the next goal he didn't look too bad did he?"
Stokes was on crutches during Geelong's second match, with Scott admitting post match the injury looked serious.
"It doesn't look great at the moment but, with those sort of things, they can blow up and be sore for a few days and then come good really quickly," he said.
Cats football manager Neil Balme said he did not know if Stokes would need scans.
"It's not too bad I don't think, but he'll miss something, most certainly," Balme said last night.
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