THE WESTERN Bulldogs are now in an agonising wait to see if they will hold their finals spot, after coasting home to a 25-point win over Geelong on Saturday night.
The Dogs need Carlton to defeat Greater Western Sydney on Sunday in order to play an elimination final.
"We've done all we can tonight. We'll watch [the game], you ride your luck, whether we'll get lucky tomorrow, it's a 50-50 game, both teams have been very, very good throughout the course of the year," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
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"Ultimately, we needed to kick one or two more (in other matches) to be safe, and we'd be feeling better about it if that was the case.
"You reap what you sow. We've sowed a bit. There've been ebbs and flows in our season, but ultimately, I don't lament, I just keep looking forward and remain optimistic. It's always my message to the players that I believe in them.
"I thought there were players tonight who emerged a bit more, 'Poults' and 'Bakes' (Caleb Poulter and Oskar Baker), again Jimmy O'Donnell and some of these young boys who have just joined us this year.
"The 'if' word – it's just there, isn't it?"
If Carlton wins and the Bulldogs skate through to September, they'll be tempted to place sore spearhead Aaron Naughton in bubble-wrap, the key forward spending some time off the field in the fourth quarter with a sore shoulder but returning to kick a goal.
Anthony Scott received a cut head late in the game and was still undergoing a concussion test at the time of the press conference (but expected to pass), while the subbed-out Laitham Vandermeer has a sore calf.
"[Naughton is] a bit banged up, but nothing hopefully that's going to stop him, if we get a look at it," Beveridge said.
"But he's sore. A couple of areas, just from knocks."
Geelong coach Chris Scott confirmed both Tom Hawkins (35 years old) and Zach Tuohy (34 in December) will play on in 2024, while acknowledging the outstanding final game of the retiring Isaac Smith, who finished with a game-high 36 disposals and a goal.
Hawkins was put on ice after last week's loss to St Kilda ended the Cats' finals chances, while Tuohy was curiously dropped out to an emergency for round 24.
"He probably could have kicked a few more,” Scott said of Smith.
"My view was always that he could play on if he wanted to, and tonight was probably a reflection of that.
"He did warn me he was going to suck the ball into some pretty bad spots, and he was pretty true to his word."
Saturday night was nearly uncharted waters for Scott, with his Cats playing in a "dead rubber" match for just the second time in his 13 seasons in charge.
It was a vastly different Geelong line-up, with two debutants in Toby Conway and Ted Clohesy, and Shannon Neale and Rhys Stanley holding down the fort up forward in the absence of the injured Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins.
"We thought there were lots of things and reasons to be pleased with the performance. There were some signs that give us real optimism to what we can do in '24," Scott said.
"There's always a silver lining when you're in that position, where you get to see some different players and expose some guys who wouldn't be otherwise able to force themselves into our team.
"Toby Conway hasn't been available all year, this has really been the first week he's been available, but that was exciting. Mitch Knevitt back into the team was exciting, (Ollie) Dempsey, (Oisin) Mullin has a future in front of him. Ted Clohesy coming into the team, he's performed really well this year in his first year.
"And the game itself, if we had have taken our chances earlier, we thought we were dominating the game, and it was really just late when we got fatigued."
