Cats expect star midfielder to be better for finals run

By Anna Harrington 

Geelong are adamant star midfielder Max Holmes will be better for his limited elimination final appearance ahead of a huge AFL semi-final against Fremantle.

Holmes only played 60 per cent game time on return from a broken ankle suffered on July 16 but kicked a goal and had 16 disposals in Geelong’s 14.23 (107) to 11.8 (74) victory over Carlton at the MCG on Friday night.

The midfielder looked short of a gallop, but when pressed on Holmes appearing sore and occasionally hobbling, coach Chris Scott responded: “Was he hobbling? Not when he got the ball – I didn’t think”.

Scott leaned on his faith in Geelong’s medical team to allow Holmes to return.

“That’s, I’m told, a ridiculously quick recovery from that injury, so you can’t help but have some trepidation about making the decision to play him,” he said.

“I don’t mind saying that it wasn’t the deciding factor, but that medical team was so confident that him playing tonight would have him in better shape for next week – which is really saying something.

“And when I did try to give them a pat on the back, they just turned around and said, ‘Look, he was unbelievable with the way he went about it.’

“I don’t rank them, but if you held a gun to my head and said, ‘Who’s been our best player over the last three years?’, I think I’d say him.

“So it was really challenging when we lost him. But it was also really challenging making the decision to play him tonight, hoping that we still have a few more weeks in our system.”

Scott was adamant that Holmes, Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, who have had interrupted seasons, could fly to Perth and back up against Fremantle.

“We’re really confident,” Scott said.

“Thinking about the reasons why we should be confident … the way we think about managing our list dominates a lot of our time.

“And sometimes it works really well, sometimes it doesn’t quite work out. But it’s never because of a flippant decision.

“If we don’t perform well next week, it won’t be through a lack of thought or some impediment in our preparation.”

Scott noted Dangerfield, who kicked five goals against Carlton, felt he was “coming good at the right time”.

The Cats coach wouldn’t look too deeply into minor premiers Fremantle’s disappointing qualifying final loss to Hawthorn.

“Even when you think about it casually, they didn’t get to where they were without having a lot of capability,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean they can necessarily roll it out after what they would consider to be less than their best.

“I don’t think the result (on Thursday night) or the way they played will influence our thinking too much … we think about what teams could do at their best. And their best is daunting.”