Former GWS co-captain Phil Davis carried a calf injury into the 2019 Grand Final.
The key defender underwent rigorous fitness tests in the lead-up and on game day as he and his Giants teammates prepared to take on Richmond at the MCG.
Self-admittedly, Davis did not have his best game defensively as the Giants were demolished by the Tigers to the tune of 89 points.
Davis, who did not initially want to see the scan, did eventually find out the damage that was done, revealing the extent of the injury he carried into that season decider.
“It wasn’t good,” he said on SEN’s Whateley.
“I’d split the tendon in my calf. It ended up being a six week (injury).
“But the thing is, I can categorically say that I felt no impact when I was playing, I didn’t feel it once.
“I felt really, really good. I just got beaten in that second quarter.
“I found out later (the extent), but during it all I was so ready to call it quits at any time if it wasn’t going to feel right. But I got through the game, played 85 per cent and actually felt ok.
“I just didn’t play very well.”
Davis finished the day with 15 disposals and nine marks but his opponent Jack Riewoldt booted five goals.
Having had that experience, Davis is well-versed to comment on the Collingwood and Brisbane players who have injury woes ahead of the 2023 Grand Final.
Magpies vice-captain Taylor Adams has already been ruled out with a hamstring injury, while teammate Dan McStay will also miss after suffering a MCL injury in last weekend’s Preliminary Final winnower GWS.
In better news for the Lions, defender Jack Payne has been passed fit after recovering from an ankle issue. Now the decision rests on whether or not he replaces Darcy Gardiner who acquitted himself well in last weekend’s victory over Carlton.
“By far the most stressful part ever,” Davis said of Grand Final preparations with an injury.
“You’ve got this big burden on your shoulders, you do not want to let your team down.
“That’s up there with some of the worst emotion you can have as an athlete is to feel like you’ve let down your teammates.
“For me, we worked out a plan on the Sunday. I never asked to see the scan so I’m not sure how the other guys (Adams and Payne) sit on that.
“But I knew what I had to tick off every day to get there. It seemed like ‘Tay’ Adams had an idea of what he needed to do. The best thing sometimes is to know you’re not right and that’s what Tay would have experienced yesterday. He would have been like, ‘Oh, I can feel it, I know I’m not right’, and that’s the decision made for him.
“McStay’s (decision) just got taken away from him. You’d probably rather miss 6-8 weeks to miss the Grand Final than miss two weeks like Tay. Both agonising, do not get me wrong.
“Then Jack Payne up there, he’ll want to make sure he’s not a liability. That is all that will be going through your head is, ‘what happens if you last 20 minutes?’.
“You want to make sure you’re in a position that you’re very confident that won’t happen.”
The teams for Saturday’s Grand Final will be named on Thursday night.
The first bounce takes place at 2:30pm AEST.