Cats Get The Points But Lose A Yard Of Class In Holmes

Geelong did what Geelong does down there at Kardinia Park on Friday night, grinding out another four points against a St Kilda outfit that competed hard without ever really threatening. But footy being footy, the story of the night wasn’t the winning margin — it was Max Holmes hobbling off with a leg injury that had the Cats’ medicos wearing grim faces before the final siren had even gone.

Another Win, Another Body On The Table

I’ll say this for the Cats, they know how to win ugly when they need to, and on a night when the contest wasn’t exactly a classic, they did enough in the midfield and forward of it to see St Kilda off. Good luck to them, genuinely — Chris Scott’s outfit has been written off more times than my old man’s V8 Kingswood and it keeps getting back up. But you can’t talk about this one without talking about Holmes going down, because that’s the bit that’ll linger long after the final scoreline is forgotten.

Back in my day — and I know, I know, here he goes again — you played through a corked thigh and had a needle at three-quarter time and got on with it. I’m not saying that was right, mind you, half those blokes can barely walk straight now at fifty-five, but there was a toughness to it that the modern eye-test doesn’t always reward anymore. These days it’s a leg injury and everyone’s holding their breath because the medical staff know more about soft tissue than the old trainers ever dreamed of, and rightly so. Still doesn’t make it any less sickening to watch a genuine talent go down.

What Holmes Means To This Cats Side

Holmes isn’t just a role player you can plug a square peg into and hope for the best. He’s the kind of ball-user that gives Geelong another dimension through the middle, a bloke who can go forward and hurt you on the scoreboard as much as he can win it at half-back. Lose him for an extended stretch and suddenly that midfield rotation looks a fair bit thinner heading into the business end of the year, right when you want your best twenty-two settling into some rhythm, not shuffling the deck every week because of the casualty ward.

It’s the sort of injury that, if it’s what everyone at the ground feared it might be, could be the difference between Geelong going deep in September and Geelong bowing out in straight sets. I don’t say that lightly. This competition is too tight, too even, for a club to lose a player of that quality and just shrug it off like it’s nothing.

The Fixture, The Grind, And Head Office’s Fingerprints

Now here’s where I get my soapbox out, and I make no apology for it. You look at the state of injury lists right across the competition this year — not just Geelong’s, everyone’s — and you have to ask what exactly head office has done to the game that’s turned every second club’s medical room into a war zone. More permitted rotations, sure, but also more running, more speed through the middle, more of these ridiculous six-six-six resets that have blokes sprinting into space at a hundred miles an hour with bodies colliding at angles nobody trained for twenty years ago.

Back when it was the VFL — and I’ll call it that till the day I die, they can fine me if they like — you had genuine positions, genuine contests, and a bloke knew where he was meant to be standing. These days it’s an endless game of chess with the interchange bench and the fitness staff, and every rule change head office dreams up in some boardroom in Docklands seems to make the on-field product faster and, dare I say it, more dangerous for the very stars they’re trying to market. You wonder if anyone up there has actually asked the players what they think, or whether it’s just been decided by blokes in suits who haven’t kicked a footy since primary school.

St Kilda’s Effort Deserves A Mention Too

Credit where it’s due, because I don’t want this to read like I’m only interested in having a whinge — the Saints turned up and had a real crack, and there were periods of that game where you could see the shape of a side that isn’t miles off being competitive week to week. They just don’t quite have the depth or the polish to go with Geelong for four quarters, not yet anyway, and that gap showed up in the final term when the Cats found another gear and the Saints simply couldn’t answer.

It wasn’t a classic, I won’t pretend otherwise, but there’s no shame in losing to a side that’s been near the top of the ladder most of the year. St Kilda fans shouldn’t be hanging their heads too low over this one — there’s enough there to build on if the list management blokes get their priorities right in the off-season, though that’s a column for another day.

What Comes Next For The Cats

The real test now is what Geelong does without Holmes, assuming the scans come back as bad as the early mood at the ground suggested. Do they go conservative and blood a younger bloke into that role, or do they shuffle the senior list around and ask someone like a wingman to take on more midfield minutes? Either way it’s a headache Chris Scott didn’t need with the pointy end of the season fast approaching, and it’s the kind of setback that can undo months of good work if it’s not managed carefully.

I’ll finish where I started — the four points go in the book and Geelong sit pretty on the ladder, as they so often seem to no matter what year it is or who’s coaching them. But footy’s a cruel old game sometimes, and for every win there’s a cost, and this one looks like it’s going to cost the Cats more than most. Here’s hoping for Holmes’ sake, and for the good of the competition frankly, that the news isn’t as bad as the vision suggested. The game’s better with him in it, and no amount of ladder position makes up for losing a genuine talent to the sidelines when it matters most.