GEELONG star Bailey Smith nearly made it through Thursday night's clash against his former side without raising any eyebrows, before revealing he was close to missing the match with a shin injury.
Speaking after the Cats' thrilling 14-point victory over the Western Bulldogs, Smith said he needed injections just to get through the match, also admitting he wouldn't have played if it was against any other team.
CATS V DOGS Full match details and stats
"I'm glad I got through the game. I probably wasn't going to play if it wasn't the Bulldogs game," he told Fox Footy.
"So I had to jab my shin up I reckon four times, at half-time and then before the game, so got up there somehow.
"Hopefully I can pull up and try and get out there next week. I don't know."
The 24-year-old didn't train with the team during the week, raising questions about the star's availability.
However, when asked about Smith's injury, Cats coach Chris Scott said that neither he nor the club's football boss Andrew Mackie were aware of the situation.
"Bailey said that? Did you know about that, Mack?" Scott asked Mackie, who was in attendance at the post-match press conference.
"The fact that the coach and the GM of footy didn't know about it probably suggests it wasn't that serious. No, there was no issue in my mind, but again, maybe I don't always get all the information.
"We don't play players when there's a risk there. This was one where he was just going to be a bit sore but always confident that he was going to get through."
Despite the injury, Smith starred with 33 disposals, seven tackles and six clearances.
Leading into Thursday's game, many thought the Bulldogs would try and rile up the headband-wearing midfielder, but Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said he didn't want his players to be distracted by the focus on Smith.
"Personalities didn't come into it. I didn't want us to be distracted, there's no use going out there and going over the top with a confrontational approach to something that we hadn't done previously, it wasn't going to help," he said.
Beveridge also refused to buy into his pre-match confrontation with Channel Seven commentator Kane Cornes, in which the pair appeared to exchange words.
"Ultimately when we come in here (the press conference) we talk about the game, I think that's probably all we're after isn't it?," said Beveridge.
"If you're trying to drum up any controversy, I don't think there was any, so I've probably got nothing to say."
The Bulldogs conceded their biggest score of the season with Geelong kicking 20 goals.
"We couldn't defuse those situations, we couldn't clear the ball from those one-on-one areas to resurrect the footy and they got too many tapping goals from those long-range players where we needed to be better at not letting it out the back," Beveridge said.
"Too much score, what did we give them, 120-odd points? We didn't defend well."
The win puts Geelong above the Bulldogs on the ladder and into fifth position, while the Dogs slip to sixth.
The Dogs have a bye next weekend, while the Cats will head to Perth next Sunday to take on West Coast.
