While skipper Joel Selwood will play his first match of the season, when the Adelaide Crows visit Simonds Stadium on Thursday night, Johnson will continue his training.

Cats general manager of football Steve Hocking said the plan was for Johnson to return in the third round of the pre-season competition, against Carlton at Etihad Stadium on March 22.

"Johnson will be NAB 3 at this point of time," Hocking said on Saturday.

Johnson complained of foot soreness in January and was given a week off.

Coach Chris Scott has stressed the importance of the Norm Smith medallist playing a full game if he was to be in line for selection to face the Hawks.

Hocking said the Cats had options even if Johnson did not resume through the NAB Challenge.

"The other thing which is an advantage for us is that we have got our VFL practice matches starting as well. We have four games in and around those weekends leading into the season," he said.

"If there was another game required for those guys that have missed, we wouldn't hesitate in playing them in there to make sure they got enough game time under their belt before the start of the season."

The Cats are also hopeful that former Saint Rhys Stanley will step out against the Blues. Stanley has been dealing with bone bruising.

"Both of those guys have been doing a fair bit of running and, hopefully, Stanley is an opportunity for NAB 3 as well," Hocking said.

"He has built up to about 10km of work in a session – he is doing a fair bit of running."

Selwood also sat out the opening NAB Challenge clash against the Gold Coast Suns but has recovered from knee soreness and will line up against a Crows' side which could have fellow star Patrick Dangerfield, off contract this season, also appear in his first match of the year.

"He (Selwood) just had a bit of soreness behind his knee but he has been OK. He has overcome it," Hocking said.

"He had done a lot work up until that point in time (of soreness). It is not a major concern. It will really just be about touch for him."

Hocking revealed that surgery last week on young forward Lincoln McCarthy had delivered better than expected news on his troublesome left foot. McCarthy had experienced a recurrence of the navicular problem which forced him to the sidelines in 2013.

He was expected to miss five months but he may now return sooner than expected.

"Once they (surgeons) got in there, it was better than what showed up on the scans. That's why the medicos always say they don't treat (injuries) based on scans. It wasn't as bad as they initially thought. That's a great result for him," Hocking said.

Veterans Jimmy Bartel, Harry Taylor, Steve Motlop and Mathew Stokes impressed against the Suns, with Hocking declaring it was important the Cats continued to field their best players through the pre-season in a bid to have them in strong form come the start of what could be a tough start to the season proper. The Cats face the Hawks, Fremantle, Gold Coast and North Melbourne in the opening month.

"The way we'll do it, we are going to try to get as much game time into our top players leading into round one because we have such a challenge at the start of the season," he said.

"I know a number of those (matches) are at home but they are against quality opponents. We have got to have a pretty good squad of players available right through that early part of the season.

"There is quite a bit of down time between (NAB Challenge) games. Whilst you can train, they are at the stage now where pre-season has been done and we have got large breaks between the games. If anyone of those guys misses a game, it means they haven't played for a considerable amount of time. We are not keen to do that."