Rumours that Geelong veteran Sam Menegola was disgruntled at the club this week have been shut down.
SEN journalist Sam Edmund reports conjecture that an unhappy Menegola missed training and didn’t attend the Cats’ 71-point preliminary final win over Brisbane at the MCG on Friday night despite being an emergency is false, revealing he’d actually been sick.
Edmund took to Twitter to confirm the 30-year old had gastro and was simply isolating from his teammates and the rest of the group in a selfless act.
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“Rumours that Sam Menegola is disgruntled and missed Thursday training and didn‘t go to prelim as a result. Opposite is true,” Edmund tweeted.
“Trained indoors (on) Thursday, had gastro Friday morning. Improved by afternoon and given he was an emergency, drove to the MCG, sat in (his) car to separate from group and then went home.
“What a clubman.”
Geelong’s emphatic smashing of the Lions puts the minor premiers in the box seat to win a 10th premiership in next week’s grand final against either Sydney or Collingwood.
The only sour note for the Cats from Friday night was an apparent hamstring setback to Max Holmes despite optimism from coach Chris Scott he’d be available for next week.
Mark O’Connor was the activated medical sub and the obvious choice to come into the side if Holmes misses, but the likes of Menegola and Brandon Parfitt will also be firmly in the mix.
“You assume you’re the first one in if you’re the sub, but Brandan Parfitt’s had a good year, (Sam) Menegola’s been making his way back. You never know with the Cats,” Cats great Jimmy Bartel said on Channel 7.
Menegola has been restricted to just seven AFL games this year due to injury and hasn’t featured since Round 22 against Gold Coast.
