Sydney’s stuttering AFL premiership defence has taken another massive hit, with dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes ruled out for the rest of this finals series.
Goodes has not played since round 13 because of a knee injury and once he failed to come up for Saturday night’s semi-final against Carlton, the Swans announced his season was over.
Carlton included ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, who is yet to prove his fitness, and named Brock McLean as an emergency, while Geelong as expected recalled key forward Tom Hawkins.
But the big news was Sydney deciding not to risk Goodes, regardless of how far they progress this month.
“Adam trained as hard as he had for quite a while on Tuesday and pulled up OK yesterday, but he was a little bit sore in the warm up today and therefore we decided not to push him,” coach John Longmire said after Thursday’s team announcement.
“It is not a case of him having reinjured his knee, he’s still fine, but the intensity of Tuesday’s session meant that it was hard for him to back it up again today, so that’s his season done.
“It is obviously disappointing but the reality is that Adam hasn’t played for a significant amount of time and we have a great deal of confidence in the group of players who are available.”
Sydney have repeatedly shown that you write them off at your peril.
They will start favourites against the Blues at ANZ Stadium, but they have had a bad run with injuries and are coming off a woeful second half in the qualifying final loss to premiership favourites Hawthorn.
They also lost Ben McGlynn with a calf injury and left out Gary Rohan, with Shane Biggs and Harry Cunningham to make their AFL finals debuts.
The Blues made two late changes before Sunday’s upset elimination final win over Richmond and the same could apply against Sydney.
Kreuzer hurt his calf against the Tigers, while McLean’s quad injury flared during the warmup and he was a last-minute scratching.
Tall utility Levi Casboult is among Carlton’s emergencies should Kreuzer not recover in time.
Hawkins, who has an ongoing back problem, was brought back for Friday night’s semi-final against Port Adelaide at the MCG.
The key forward is a day-by-day proposition and is no certainty to play against the Power.
The Cats lost Corey Enright (knee) and Josh Caddy (ankle), while Josh Walker predictably made way for Hawkins.
The Hunts – Taylor and Josh – will also return, while Port are unchanged.