Geelong coach Chris Scott confirmed both Tom Hawkins and Zach Tuohy will play on in 2024, while acknowledging the outstanding final game of the retiring Isaac Smith, who finished with a game-high 36 disposals and a goal.

Hawkins was put on ice after last week's loss to St Kilda ended the Cats' finals chances, while Tuohy sat out the round 24 clash. 

"He probably could have kicked a few more,” Scott said of Smith. 

"My view was always that he could play on if he wanted to, and tonight was probably a reflection of that," Scott said.

"He did warn me he was going to suck the ball into some pretty bad spots, and he was pretty true to his word.

Saturday night was nearly uncharted waters for Scott, with his Cats playing in a "dead rubber" match for just the second time in his 13 seasons in charge.

It was a vastly different Geelong line-up, with two debutants in Toby Conway and Ted Clohesy, and Shannon Neale and Rhys Stanley holding down the fort up forward in the absence of the injured Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins.

"We thought there were lots of things and reasons to be pleased with the performance. There were some signs that give us real optimism to what we can do in '24," Scott said.

"There's always a silver lining when you're in that position, where you get to see some different players and expose some guys who wouldn't be otherwise able to force themselves into our team.

"Toby Conway hasn't been available all year, this has really been the first week he's been available, but that was exciting. Mitch Knevitt back into the team was exciting, (Ollie) Dempsey, (Oisin) Mullin has a future in front of him. Ted Clohesy coming into the team, he's performed really well this year in his first year.

"And the game itself, if we had have taken our chances earlier, we thought we were dominating the game, and it was really just late when we got fatigued."