Geelong midfielder Patrick Dangerfield is refusing to rule himself out of Sunday’s clash with North Melbourne despite injuring his knee on Sunday.

The Brownlow medallist hurt his knee in the second quarter of Geelong’s win over Essendon, and will give himself until the eleventh hour to prove his fitness.

“I think it will be a late call this week,” Dangerfield said on SEN.

“We’ll assess it this afternoon once we have our reviews and rehab, but it’s a little bit sore at the moment which is to be expected.

“I had scans this morning so we’ll get those results in another few hours and then the docs will look through that and [devise a] plan of attack for the next few days.

“It’s a real balance of resting it but also getting up and running as quickly as you can within reason.”

The 29-year-old knows the importance of rehab in order to give himself the best chance of playing.

“Whether the decision is made early in the week or late in the week, if it’s made late in the week you still need to get moving early,” he added.

“The thing I’ve learnt, I suppose early in my career, I’d just leave it late without really getting mobile and then you just haven’t really tested yourself.

“An ex-coach of mine had a great saying, and I still think about it now, [former Adelaide coach] Neil Craig. You ask a player whether they can play and most players will always say, ‘Yeah, I can play’. But his philosophy was, ‘I know you can play, but can you perform?’”

Meanwhile, Geelong will head to the tribunal on Tuesday night to fight Gary Ablett’s one-match sanction.