There was an eerie murmur across GMHBA Stadium on Thursday night after Gary Rohan accidentally collected teammate Jeremy Cameron high in a contest.
The big forward lie still on the ground while the game was stopped for what seemed like an eternity as a visibly distressed Rohan was consoled by teammates.
Thankfully, Cameron has been cleared of any serious damage and will enter the League’s concussion protocols, ruling him out of next Friday night’s clash with the Swans in Sydney.
But no one knew that in the moment. as Cameron was attended to by the Geelong medical staff for what felt like a longer period than usual, tension remained high across the ground and in the stands.
However, as Tom Atkins revealed in a post game chat with Fox Footy, they needn’t have worried, with the felled number 5 delivering a ‘classic’ Cameron quip to Rohan as he was wheeled of on a stretcher.
“I actually heard before that Gary apologised to him when he was on the stretcher and he said something to the effect of: ‘I don‘t care mate. Just go and win the game.’
“That‘s sort of the mentality that we had. We know that Jez wouldn’t want us to be stressing for the rest of the game and lose it.
“It’s classic Jez really. That’s why he’s such a legend around the club."
Rohan seemingly took his great mate’s demand to heart as the Cats’ live wire forward kicked a trademark high, long and deadly straight goal minutes later.
He then went on to submit what Geelong coach Chris Scott called a match winning performance, kicking 3 goals, to go along with 7 marks, 9 score involvements and 16 disposals.
According to Champion Data, it was one of his best games in the Hoops.
He also laid 4 crucial tackles, a pair of classic Rohan rundowns among them, including a couple on All-Australian Demon defender Jake Lever who will likely be hearing Rohan’s footsteps in his dreams until the sides meet again.
Scott was full of praise for Rohan post game.
"[Rohan's] approach and maturity to really attack the game – and if anyone won the game for us, it was him – and I'm really proud of him and others as well," he said.
"He is so willing to play his role, and it's a role that's hard for some people on the outside to understand. I don't just mean on the field as well, the way he is around the club, he's someone I admire.
"I don't generally individualise – Tom Stewart was pretty good – so he had some competition, but to my eye, Rohan was the most dangerous player on the ground."
