JAMES Kelly nearly didn't play on Friday night after hurting himself in the warm-up, coach Chris Scott has revealed.
The 30-year-old had three goals kicked on him in the first quarter after opponent Lindsay Thomas got away from the veteran.
While Kelly got better as the night wore on, Scott spoke of how close he came to not actually appearing in the game at all.
"I hope this doesn't sound anything like an excuse but he had a few issues in the warm up and was very close to not playing the game," Scott told ABC Radio on Saturday.
"He did start poorly on a really good player but he fought his way back into the game, as a number of our players did.
"I thought he was fantastic in the one-on-ones late, playing under some duress."
The Cats are not expecting the same sort of senior player exodus they saw last year, when the likes of Joel Corey, Josh Hunt, Paul Chapman and James Podsiadly left the club for a variety of reasons.
But football manager Neil Balme admitted while most of the older Cats were set to play on in 2015, they – Kelly included - would have to make sure they were committed.
"He (Kelly) is going to have ask himself, 'okay, how hard do I want to work?," Balme told SEN.
"I'm not just going to wander through and just get another year, I'm going to actually contribute very seriously to this team.
"'If I'm good enough, I will help the kids through. If I'm not good enough, they won't play me'.
"He's hard-headed enough, he knows that better than I do, so I don't think we'll have a problem particularly with him.
"We think he probably will (play on), because he's a wonderful competitor and a very talented player, but if he doesn't get to the mark because old age is defeating him, we'll make the decisions."
A bitterly disappointed Joel Selwood said on Friday night the experienced Cats like Kelly, Andrew Mackie, Corey Enright and Steve Johnson had to decide if they were going to go to another level again next season.
Balme agreed it was up to the veterans to make sure they were better in 2015.
"If you look at the games this year, you could take Selwood and Hawkins out of it and the games were won and lost by the younger blokes rather than the older blokes," he said.
"We have a very good capacity to deal with realities - we have enormous respect for our (older) blokes, for what they've done, but we are able to get the perspective of today in it, which is why it's so hard."
Balme conceded tough calls were made this time last year with Chapman, Podsiadly and Hunt going on to play football elsewhere.
He said the fact this year's veterans would likely retain their spots didn't decrease the expectation on them for taking the club forward.
"This time, we've decided to keep a couple of these blokes," he said.
"But that doesn't mean there's any less pressure on them performing next year.
"Their pre-seasons are going to be harder than they've ever been.
"The expectation on them is going to be higher than ever, because they have to play very well to stay in the side.
Twitter: @AFL_JenPhelan https://twitter.com/AFL_JenPhelan
