GEELONG coach Chris Scott is not worried about 33-year-old captain Patrick Dangerfield's recent injury history and believes Saturday's hamstring injury is an "isolated incident".
Dangerfield was subbed out early in the third quarter of Saturday's 26-point win over Adelaide at GMHBA Stadium with a left hamstring issue, which the midfielder described as "awareness".
Both Scott and Dangerfield were both confident the injury wasn't serious, but he will undergo scans to ascertain the extent of the issue. Dangerfield described it as "minor" after the game.
The 2016 Brownlow medalist's setback comes after playing 34 of a possible 50 games in 2021 and 2022 due to a combination of injury and suspension. He has been subbed off in one game per season in each of the past three seasons.
Dangerfield was troubled by an ongoing calf issue last year, with Geelong taking a conservative approach with his recovery, before a strong back-end of the season once back at full fitness. He also missed a run of games after ankle surgery in April 2021.
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"In my opinion, injury history is very relevant when it's a recurrence of a similar issue," Scott said post-game.
"I can't recall Pat doing a hamstring.
"I don’t think that'll have a big influence. He's had some trouble with a calf. If it was that, I think we'd be a bit more cautious. This is one we'll treat as an isolated incident."
Scott lauded Dangerfield's performance up until his substitution, collecting 11 disposals in a dominant and explosive second quarter where Geelong broke the game open.
Dangerfield was averaging 27.25 disposals per game across Geelong's previous four games, all wins, coming into Saturday's clash, including managing a career-high 15 inside 50s in last week's win over Essendon.
"I thought he was one of the key differences between the teams in the first half," Scott said. "I thought he continued the form he's shown in the past month. I thought he was outstanding."
In the first half, Dangerfield faced off against his opposition skipper Jordan Dawson in an exciting head-to-head battle between two of this season's premier midfielders, which both coaches admitted they enjoyed.
Scott was bullish that Brad Close had no case to answer for a fourth-quarter dump tackle on Dawson which may attract match review officer scrutiny, having had a free-kick paid against him.
A fortnight ago, Scott went out of his way to leap to the defence of Mitch Duncan for a bump which left Sydney's Robbie Fox concussed, with the veteran going unpunished in that instance.
"The defence would be really strong but I don’t think it's required, in my opinion," he said.
"It's not a reflection of the decision itself. I had a look at it. Very comfortable with it.
"It's a topical issue. I get it. When a player is off balance and he slips and falls into the ground, gets up and is OK, yeah. We've got the benefit that the umpire doesn’t have. We can watch it and take into account everything with time, replays and slow motion. They made a call in the instant. I wouldn’t have made that call."
Scott was also full of praise for key defender Esava Ratugolea for his strong display, with the Cats missing Sam De Koning (facial fracture) and Jack Henry (foot). Ratugolea had 13 disposals with eight marks and eight intercept possessions, behind only Tom Stewart (nine) for the game.
"If we didn’t have Ratugolea, we would’ve been in real trouble," he said. "I always struggle to work out straight after the game who the most influential players are, but wow he took my eye."
Crows coach Matthew Nicks was proud of his side's resilience for a plucky display where they remained within reach for most of the game, but he said they were beaten aerially, with Geelong leading the marks tally 90-76, enabling them to control possession.
"Although disappointed now, I think our guys showed some great resilience," he said.
"It's such a tough road trip, I thought Geelong were outstanding.
"Games like that where Geelong got a bit of a run-on, the momentum can get away from you, but our guys just hung in and hung in all day. In that last quarter, we were really taking it to them. Really pleased we brought it today, but not quite at the level required to beat Geelong in Geelong."
The loss comes after going down by one point to another premiership contender Collingwood, but Nicks insisted they weren’t settling for honourable defeats, albeit citing a tough run of fixtures.
"We're confident we're playing much better footy," Nicks said. "The run we're on at the moment, you play Collingwood into Geelong then St Kilda and Brisbane, if you're a realist, they're tough games to win.
"By no means will we sit back, we have to get better. You do (need those wins). We beat Carlton a few weeks ago, a side up towards the top of the ladder. We lose to Collingwood by a point, it could’ve been the bounce of the ball. But there'll be a point you need to get the win."
