GEELONG coach Chris Scott refused to use Max Holmes' hamstring injury as an excuse for his side's second-half drop-off in Saturday's preliminary final loss as the gun Cat again suffered a setback in the penultimate weekend.
Holmes felt a hamstring issue in the third term and spent around 15 minutes on the bench in the quarter getting it assessed by medicos, as Brisbane turned around a 19-point half-time deficit to lead by two points at the final change.
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The young star returned to the field late in the third quarter and again for the start of the fourth term before being substituted out of the game in an eerily similar circumstance to the 2022 preliminary final when he suffered a hamstring strain that saw him miss the Cats' flag triumph.
Whilst missing one of their best players, the Cats lost control against the red-hot Lions, who are now into their second successive Grand Final after last year's defeat. In the post-mortem of a thrilling preliminary final, Scott said the injury assessment was a challenge during the clash.
"It's a little bit difficult to explain because it hasn't been our focus in the immediate aftermath. I don't think it's serious necessarily but there was enough uncertainty for him to be off the ground for a long enough period of time and certainly enough uncertainty for us to not make our sub," Scott said post-game.
"It was a frustrating period there for everyone but in terms of a full-on complete explanation, I can't really give you one at the moment other than to say he was concerned about it and it took an bit of time to work through."
He admitted the absence of the dynamic Holmes came at a time when the game swung as the Lions begun their run for another come-from-behind victory.
"Probably, but that's a reflection of how good a player he is more than the reshuffle through our midfield. I thought he was dominating the game. It hurt a bit. But again glass half full, I'm looking forward to the next 10 years of Max Holmes playing in the hoops," Scott said.
Holmes overcame gastro illness during the week to feature in front of more than 93,000 fans at the MCG, with some off-field Geelong staff hit with COVID during preparations. The two-time premiership coach said the challenges with illness in his group were not "insurmountable", but they did coincide with Scott being without his midfield assistant Steven King, who was rushed to hospital on Friday after collapsing at training. He was discharged on Saturday but did not attend the game.
Scott did not want to use King's absence as a factor in his side's defeat.
"It's really hard to talk about because I don't have the presence of mind at the moment to explain it in a way that wouldn't sound like we were making an excuse. 'Kingy's' been a super addition to our coaching group and been fantastic for us this year," he said.
"He'll be disappointed he wasn't a part of it but he'll pull himself together and he's going to be a fine coach as a head coach at some point. But if he's not and he's with us next year, I'm looking forward to working with him."
It was Scott's ninth top-four finish in his 14th season as coach of the Cats, saying the club would continue to "risk this feeling to have a chance to do something great". But its next premiership pursuit will be without champion Cat Tom Hawkins and veteran Zach Tuohy, who have both now played their last AFL game after recently announcing their retirements.
The Cats opted against playing the pair, with Hawkins not selected after his long injury absence and Tuohy dropped for the preliminary final clash with Tom Stewart returning.
Scott said being without Hawkins next year for the first time in his senior coaching career was hard to imagine.
"It pulls at the heart strings. Just when you don't think you could feel any worse, you start thinking about that stuff," he said.
"I really don't like this part of the game. I found this week really hard dealing with those guys. One of the hard parts is you come away from it and you still don't know whether it was the right decision or not. When it doesn't work out, you tend to think maybe it wasn't, but I wasn't going to sleep for a couple of nights anyway…"
