No one liked seeing the vision of Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield disappearing into the player locker rooms with what turned out to be a hamstring issue on Saturday afternoon at GMHBA Stadium, particularly in the form he’s been in lately.
The Cats midfield beast had just bullocked his way to 11 second quarter possessions, but where some were focused on how long the 2016 Brownlow Medallist might miss, others, like Max Holmes, saw opportunity.
After the Cats medical staff made the call for the Dangerfield to swap his playing kit for a tracksuit early in third term, the emerging Holmes went into the middle and delivered 13 disposals, four clearances, a game high six tackles and a goal for good measure after half time.
For those Cats fans that watch every week, they wouldn’t have been surprised, they know what the still 20 year old is capable of, but as Chris Scott said after Geelong’s 26 point win over Adelaide, it did feel like another step forward for the 20th pick in the 2020 AFL Draft.
“We've got a lot of faith in Max and he's still a developing player,” Scott said. “But even late last year he was a really important player for us and it's just exciting when you group those guys together.”
The ‘group’ Scott was referring to were Mitch Knevitt, Tanner Bruhn and Tom Atkins, who were all at the coal face in the key moments of a game that never quite felt safe until it was. The four of them together had 19 last quarter possessions, nine tackles and seven clearances.
Atkins is quietly back in late-2022 form, his stat line of 17 disposals, a game high 12 contested possessions, six tackles, five clearances and a game high 27 pressure acts set the standard for the Geelong engine room, while Bruhn and Knevitt clearly caught the eye of their coach.
“When the game was on the line late, we were so impressed with Mitch Knevitt and Tanner Bruhn,” Scott said.
“We had some crucial centre bounces late in the game and it was Atkins, and Knevitt and Bruhn, and it was exciting for us.
"It's not necessarily by design but.. it's easy to say when you've won but even if we didn't the silver lining when you have a bit of an injury list to keep players is that you see others come through and I think that's happening around the competition.”
What’s the old song? The Kids are Alright? Even Chris Scott agrees, generation next is staking a claim right before our eyes.
“If you're a Geelong than you can think, 'I've got bit of an idea of what it might look like in four- or five-years’ time', and you look at them today and you think, 'we might be ok'.”
