AFL

Cats midfield ready for Blues as star pushes for return

By Anna Harrington

Aug 31, 2026

AFL — Geelong are waiting to see if Max Holmes can return from injury to take on Carlton in the finals. -AAP Image

Geelong are ready to go toe-to-toe with Carlton's dynamic midfield as star Max Holmes attempts to prove his fitness for their blockbuster AFL elimination final clash.

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Hard-running midfielder Holmes hasn't played since fracturing an ankle and needing syndesmosis surgery in round 19.

The 24-year-old has been consistently bullish about returning in time for finals but will clearly need a lot to go his way to feature at the MCG on Friday night.

Asked if Holmes will play, fellow midfielder Tom Atkins said: "No idea, to be honest. Not my area."

But the premiership midfielder was positive when pressed on how Holmes had trained on Monday.

"As he has really the last couple weeks," Atkins said.

"Even if he's at 60 per cent he's still running better than half the team, so yeah, he's a super athlete. If he's good to go, that'll be sort of up to the coaches."

Carlton's Rising Star winner Jagga Smith kicked two goals from 29 disposals in the Blues' wildcard win over Melbourne and has added a dynamic layer to a midfield led by Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh.

"He's awesome. I played against him twice now, and super light on his feet and hard to track down for old blokes like me," Atkins said of Smith.

"But as with every team, you're going to come up against some talent ... so yeah, we're up for it."

The Cats will lean into what they learned from losing to Carlton, the form team of the competition, earlier in the season.

"They're on fire, aren't they?" Atkins said.

"Played well pretty much since we played them last. So it'll be a massive challenge.

"We've got to beat these teams if we want to win the flag.

"So we're up for it. We're excited."

Beyond the finals, the Cats are believed to be at the front of the pecking order for in-demand Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters, who is returning to Victoria as a free agent at season's end.

"I haven't given too much thought to be honest," Atkins said.

"Been pretty focused on just giving it a good run this year, but I love coming up against Zak every time we play them.

"He's, as you know, a great competitor, and we will take any good player really - let alone one of the best in the comp.

"So yeah, hopefully we get that done. But I just want to win the flag this year. That's all I really care about."