Geelong coach Chris Scott didn't know of the Supreme Court writ that would be served by former Cat Matthew Egan a couple of hours later, but his words about Steve Johnson's fitness hinted at the uncertain ground a club treads when it comes to footballers and injured feet.

"We'll consider everything and make good decisions hopefully," Scott said on Tuesday of Johnson's prospects of returning this weekend. "Our medical staff will make really good decisions there, we're not pressuring them one way or the other."

In the next breath he effectively ruled his star midfielder out of Saturday night's inconsequential home clash with the Brisbane Lions, although the Cats remain confident he will be back for what Scott termed "the more important game in two weeks". Confident, but not certain.

"He's a little bit hard to assess because it's one of those things where you feel perfect when you're not doing anything, but the test is when you actually start training," Scott said. "And he hasn't really done that yet because the best thing for it is to take all the weight off it completely."

Other than both afflicting feet, the injury that ended Egan's 2007 All-Australian season and the soreness that will sideline Johnson for a third game this weekend are a considerable distance apart on the injury spectrum. Egan suffered a broken navicular bone; Johnson has been cleared of structural damage and is said to be experiencing a "stress reaction".

Yet there is commonality in the motivation that, seven years on, shocked the Cats on Tuesday with the news that Egan – a popular player whose plight touched all at Geelong – is suing surgeon Mark Blackney and Geelong club doctor Chris Bradshaw. The vow to do "whatever it takes" is a well-worn footy cliche. Sometimes you pay a heavy price.

When Egan broke his foot in round 22, 2007, the decision was taken to operate and embark on swift rehabilitation in the hope of playing in what turned out to be a drought-breaking premiership. "It was fully consented, fully understood that it was a long shot, and fully understood that we'd shut things down the minute things didn't work out," an insider said on Tuesday.

He stayed on the list for two years, conceding at the end of 2009 that he wouldn't play again, and celebrating that year's premiership with Bradshaw by drinking the bottle of champagne they had set aside to hopefully toast his playing return.

Now he is an assistant coach at Essendon, and Johnson is a key Cat with a sore foot and his own history of doing "whatever it takes". His starring, four-goal performance in the 2011 grand final came at the end of a week spent virtually living in a compression chamber, and after a Saturday morning visit from Scott in which he hid an ice pack and said his knee was good to go despite fearing it was anything but.

The risk Johnson will doubtless take in the coming weeks is not on the same scale as Egan's, but there will be a risk, there always is. Tuesday's bombshell won't ease the nerves of Geelong folk who already had their fingers crossed for Stevie J.