Geelong coach Chris Scott says the club will use no excuses for the loss to Brisbane in Saturday night's preliminary final as it came to light the immense challenges they faced throughout the week.
In his post-match press conference, Scott alluded that staff and players dealt with illness and COVID-19 in the lead-up to the Lions clash while star midfielder Max Holmes managed a bout of gastro.
To add further salt to the wound, Holmes was pulled from the game with a hamstring injury, the same one that hampered his 2022 finals run that ultimately saw him miss out on the Cats' grand final success.
Whilst missing one of his best players for up to 15 minutes before he was replaced by substitute Mitch Duncan, Scott admitted it was difficult to navigate as the game was hanging in the balance.
"It's a little bit difficult to explain because it hasn't been our focus in the immediate aftermath. I don't think it's serious necessarily, but there was enough uncertainty for him to be off the ground for a long enough period of time and certainly enough uncertainty for us to not make our sub," Scott said post-game.
"It was a frustrating period there for everyone, but in terms of a full-on complete explanation, I can't really give you one at the moment other than to say he was concerned about it, and it took a bit of time to work through."
During Holmes' absence, the rampaging Lions were able to get themselves back into the game, turning a 25-point deficit early in the third quarter to hold a two-point lead at the final change.
The club was also hindered by the absence of assistant coach Steven King, who suffered a medical episode on the eve of the preliminary final.
But once again, Scott refused to use that as an excuse.
"It's really hard to talk about because I don't have the presence of mind at the moment to explain it in a way that wouldn't sound like we were making an excuse. 'Kingy's' been a super addition to our coaching group and been fantastic for us this year," Scott said.
"He'll be disappointed he wasn't a part of it, but he'll pull himself together, and he's going to be a fine coach as a head coach at some point. But if he's not and he's with us next year, I'm looking forward to working with him."
As the dust settles on another impressive season from Geelong and Scott's ninth top-four finish in 14 years, the Cats coach said the club would always attempt to put itself in this position despite the heartbreak.
However, its next premiership pursuit will be without Tom Hawkins and Zach Tuohy, who have both played their last game in the hoops after announcing their retirements earlier in the year.
Hawkins battled to get to the line but was ultimately bypassed for the selection of youngster Shannon Neale, while Tuohy was dropped for the returning Tom Stewart, with fellow Irishman Oisin Mullin first choice for Scott.
And whilst accepting the reality of a 10-point preliminary finals loss, Scott said the departing champions only make matters worse.
"It pulls at the heartstrings. Just when you don't think you could feel any worse, you start thinking about that stuff," Scott said.
"I really don't like this part of the game. I found this week really hard dealing with those guys. One of the hard parts is you come away from it, and you still don't know whether it was the right decision or not. When it doesn't work out, you tend to think maybe it wasn't, but I wasn't going to sleep for a couple of nights anyway…"
