Tom Hawkins and Zach Tuohy have had their AFL careers ended without a fairytale finish and premiership teammates Gary Rohan, Mitch Duncan and Rhys Stanley could yet find themselves in the same boat.
The first four were among the Geelong players watching on from the stands as the Cats suffered a late defeat to Brisbane in Saturday night’s preliminary final.
Hawkins and Tuohy announced their impending retirements last month, with the former ruled out of the Lions clash as he sought to return from a long-term foot injury and the latter dropped.
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Rohan was also bidding to get back into the team but suffered a fractured skull in the VFL two weeks ago.
He does not yet have a deal for 2025.
Mitch Duncan, the 33-year-old who was the starting substitute for Saturday night’s loss, and Rhys Stanley have also yet to sign new deals for next year.
Duncan has previously said he would likely retire if the Cats did not put an offer on the table.
Stanley, who turns 34 in December, was injured upon landing after a mark in the final minute against Brisbane and looked devastated with both the result and his body after the siren.
Cam Guthrie, 32, missed time throughout the year before being sidelined indefinitely after Round 10, and like Hawkins he was also overlooked for the preliminary final.
But he has a deal in place for next season, the last year of an extension signed in 2021.
The confirmed exits of Hawkins and Tuohy and possible departures of their veteran teammates will accelerate a mini-rebuild that kept the Cats in contention since their 2022 premiership.
Geelong coach Chris Scott praised Hawkins as “one of the best people” he has ever met in footy.
“(He will) go down as one of the all-time greats of the Geelong footy club,” the coach said.
“Pulls at the heartstrings, just when you don’t think you could feel any worse you start thinking about that stuff.”
Scott said he hopes Zach Tuohy remains in the public eye with a commentary role, before admitting he struggled with his responsibilities at selection this week.
“For the football public out there, let’s all hope that (Tuohy) gets into the footy media,” Scott said.
“Because if he can take 10 per cent of that into the forum of what he brings into our footy club in terms of his humour and his manner, he’ll be very watchable.
“But it just stings, the realisation that he’s played his last game.
“I’ll be a bit introspective here. 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 that it wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to sleep for a couple of nights anyway.”
Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield said the personal toll of the off-season is arguably the most difficult part of being knocked out without reaching the grand final, let alone winning another flag.
“There’s plenty to be really proud of what we’ve achieved,” he told Channel 7 in the rooms at the MCG.
“But at the same time it’s that confirmation that when you come so close to, not the ultimate goal, but to put yourself in that game (grand final) — it’s tough to swallow, but we’ve been in this position before to be frank.
“You take a few weeks to digest it, the team will never be the same in terms of the playing list, that’s the tough part over the next two weeks.
“The list changes, and people move on, so the importance of sticking together and supporting each other regardless of your own individual position within that.”