‘Ultimate devastation’: The most shattered Cat in the rooms after grand final thrashing

The pain of losing had spread like a virus by the time the dejected Geelong players found their way off the MCG and into a silent, empty change room.

Coach Chris Scott and Cats CEO Stephen Hocking were first down the race, their faces stern and emotionless.

Players ambled along behind, listless and broken.

Skipper Patrick Dangerfield carried a child in each arm on a day he had not been able to carry his side. The Superman of the preliminary finals had found his kryptonite in Brandon Starcevich.

Bailey Smith stopped to hug family members waiting by the door. He had lost his headband late in the game, but had lost his mojo well before. He didn’t speak during the embrace.

Shannon Neale also hugged waiting family. It was welcome comfort for the big forward after he had been manhandled by a dominant Harris Andrews for the majority of the afternoon.

All the Cats were hurting, but no one more than Tom Stewart. Dressed in a club-issue zip-up jacket, he looked the most shattered of them all.

The fierce warrior had been reduced to the brink of tears for not being there when his team needed him most – another cruel reminder that concussion protocols had not factored in a pre-grand final bye.

Ruckman Rhys Stanley was the last player down the race. It may well have been his final game. He, too, carried a child and sought out loved ones.

Never had members of a family club seemed to need members of their family more.

Scott led his players behind closed doors to try and make meaning of a horror day.

Mark Blicavs was the first to emerge, fronting the TV cameras to try and explain what went wrong. He didn’t really have an answer.

Max Holmes wandered out next. The dashing midfielder had tackled the game like a player who was still smarting from missing a medal in 2022. Now he was in tears, having missed again.

Jeremy Cameron found his daughter among the crowd. No one had hurt more than the competition’s leading goalkicker.

His pain started early, his right arm crunched in a marking contest involving Dangerfield in the second quarter.

But it had truly sunk in when Kai Lohmann kicked a Brisbane goal at the 20-minute mark of the final term to give the Lions a 53-point lead. At that stage, Cameron stood head down in the Cats’ forward 50, his damaged and bandaged arm hanging limply by his side.

It was hard to believe he was able to see out the afternoon.

But there he was in the rooms after the game with his little girl. He held her in his good left arm. His injured right arm was held up in a makeshift sling – the bottom of his No.5 jumper.

There was a hollow feeling pervading the rooms as Tom Atkins and then Dangerfield fronted the media to explain the worst possible end to what had been a brilliant season.

“You risk the ultimate devastation,” Dangerfield.

“It is a ruthless sport, it is the best sport in the world, and you do risk the devastation, but it’s worth putting yourself out there to give it a crack.

“The hard part is there’s no guarantee in any given season. Everyone starts again from the blocks.”

But Atkins said the Cats would lick their wounds and be back for more.

“[Chris Scott] just said, ‘There has to be one loser’,” Atkins said.

“We don’t apologise for putting ourselves at the pointy end every year. I can still remember Joel [Selwood] saying that when he was captain, and it still rings true.

“You know, there has to be 17 losers. And you know, times like these, sometimes you wish you missed finals. But we don’t want to feel that way. We want to put ourselves up there every year.”

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