The immediate playing future of Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield is in peril after he was substituted out of the Cats’ 13-point over Carlton at the MCG with a hamstring injury.
The Brownlow Medallist, who was lively in the first half of a ferocious match, appeared in significant pain after he injured the muscle in the midfield in the third term.
Dangerfield, who was playing his second match back after missing three weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Round 2, came from the field immediately.
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Geelong coach Chris Scott, who said the skipper “left a big void” for the Cats when he was substituted out of the match, was not able to elaborate on the extent of the injury.
“I just know it is a hamstring. I could speculate, but I don’t think that helps. The club will give a little bit more detail as the week goes on, but I am not sure at the moment,” he said.
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The Cats have made a conscious effort in recent years to manage older players including Dangerfield to ensure they are fresh enough to produce their best footy late in seasons.
The dynamic Cat, who started at full forward and was among the best afield before the injury, kicked a goal from his 16 disposals and was responsible for seven of Geelong’s 45 forward 50m arc entries.
The match served as dual-Carji Greeves Medallist Cam Guthrie’s first in just over a year and the veteran Geelong midfielder took little time to adjust to the pace of the game.
Guthrie, who spent more time than usual in defence given the absence of champion defender Tom Stewart, took a spectacular mark on the wing in the first minute of the match.
He kicked long to Jeremy Cameron, who kicked the first of his five goals for the match in another superb performance from the 2019 Coleman Medallist.
Cameron, who also kicked the settler for Geelong in the dying stages, passed the 600-goal milestone earlier in the match.
Guthrie, meanwhile, finished the match with 27 disposals as Geelong posted its seventh win from as many outings.
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“It helps when you get a touch early and then you take a hanger and (are then) involved in our goal,” Scott said.
“We thought he was solid. He played a little bit more, or a lot more, back than he normally does. But with Stewart out, that made a bit of sense to us as well.
“We had that as an option in our planning, that would bring him back sort of behind the ball. I’m not sure exactly how we would have done it if Stewart was in the team, but it was definitely an option. So (it is) not unexpected that he played there, but it’s also not unexpected that late in the game, when the heat was on, he was in the middle.”
Geelong faces the fourth-placed Melbourne at the MCG next Saturday night before hosting the fifth-positioned Port Adelaide at home in a fortnight.
