By Roy Ward
Geelong’s medical staff are “optimistic” young forward Max Holmes could overcome a hamstring injury in time to play in the AFL grand final.
The 20-year-old went down in the third term of Geelong’s 71-point win over Brisbane Lions and limped off looking certain to miss next Saturday’s premiership decider.
Max Holmes (middle) speaks with Isaac Smith and Cameron Guthrie after the Cats made the AFL Grand Final.Credit:AFL Photos
Cats skipper Joel Selwood had serious concerns for the young forward but Cats coach Chris Scott said his club’s medical staff refused to rule Holmes out and still hope they can get him fit enough to play.
“They are optimistic about it,” Scott said post-game on Friday night.
“It looks like an injury that is not necessarily going to rule him out, they haven’t given me the details, just that they are optimistic he will play.
“It did not look like that to me [at the time], so that made a good night better.”
Scott added that he was not expecting to hear anything positive about Holmes, and he also stressed that Holmes still had a big week ahead to prove his fitness.
“I did and I wanted to speak to our medical staff about another issue or two as well and I went down there thinking the worst but I bounced out of the rooms as well at three-quarter-time,” Scott said.
“So it is not a sure thing, but my understanding is, with the quality of our medical staff, when they say they are optimistic, it gets me up on my toes.”
Scott added that Patrick Dangerfield was back to his best due to excellent work from the club’s medical staff and having not played every game this season due to an early season injury.
“He is in really good shape and compared to where he has been previously, it is chalk and cheese,” Scott said.
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan is confident his team can go a step further next year despite their disappointing loss to Geelong.
Fagan said wins over Richmond and Melbourne in the finals showed the Lions were on the right path.
Lions veteran Mitch Robinson announced on Facebook soon after the final siren he had played his last game for the club.
Robinson played in the elimination final win over Richmond but was expected to be told his time at the club was over while Daniel McStay has been connected to a move to Collingwood for next season.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak to the players yet but it’ll be a message of optimism mixed with disappointment,” Fagan said.
“There’s been a lot of good things that happened this year, tonight wasn’t one of them but we won’t run away from that.
“Geelong outplayed us in every facet of the game, to be honest. The way they moved the ball was outstanding. It’s hard to know what toll our past two finals took but either way, Geelong managed the last couple of weeks very well and congratulations to them.
“They’ve played in a lot of finals series and haven’t gotten to the big dance often, and tonight it felt like they put on a performance that reflected that frustration. So, we’ll learn from tonight and be back next year stronger for it.”
Fagan said Cam Rayner had an ankle injury that would need scans while he could see the Lions coming back better in 2023.
“We tried a lot of things to stop Geelong’s influence. They have a magnificent weapon in Mark Blicavs, the way they used him in their backline was great coaching,” Fagan said.
“I think we now know the right formula to winning the finals. It sounds silly tonight but to have beaten Richmond and Melbourne, we’ve showed that we can play with the right intent and mindset.
“We ran into a brick wall tonight, we’ll take a lot of confidence from our campaign.”
