Geelong's gastroenteritis crisis wasn't a crisis after all.
Cats defender Tom Stewart caused a stir when he told reporters he was suffering a bout of food poisoning or gastro as he left Simonds Stadium on Monday.
On the back of Tom Lonergan's late withdrawal - due to food poisoning - from the team that defeated Sydney by 59 points, Stewart's news caused alarm ahead of Friday night's preliminary final against Adelaide.
But Stewart took to social media late on Monday to set the record straight.
"I wasn't feeling great yesterday and I accidentally mixed up my words when speaking to the media today," Stewart wrote.
"A complete accident on my part and I take full responsibility for the mishap.
"Just wanted to clear the air and make sure that everyone is informed. Clearly need some more media training."
The gastro scare was initially reported as a misguided attempt at humour by Stewart, but coach Chris Scott shed further light on the issue on Fox Footy on Monday night.
"I can clear it up very quickly," Scott said.
"He had a bit of gastro yesterday and the doctors, at this time of year in particular, get paranoid when anyone has got a sniffle and they get removed from the playing group very quickly.
"That happened yesterday and then he was in today. In a pretty raw and honest moment he got doorstopped and he said 'I've been a bit crook and I've been quarantined' which was absolutely true.
"Maybe it was a little bit of a misunderstanding, but he's fine."
Mature-age recruit Stewart also suffered a hamstring strain in the win over the Swans, although scans proved positive.
He trained with the main group on Monday and is expected to be passed fit to take on the Crows.
Geelong and Adelaide have split their two matches this year, with the Cats getting up on home soil by 22 points in round 11 and the Crows turning the tables by 21 points at the Adelaide Oval in round 18.
Geelong skipper Joel Selwood was unsure whether gun midfielder Patrick Dangerfield would again start at full-forward, as he did to such devastating effect with a four-goal haul against Sydney.
"He's played some great footy for us throughout the middle of the ground too," Selwood said on Monday.
"It's up to the coach I guess and Patty will have a pretty fair say in it too, where he thinks he'll best start.
"We obviously think he can stretch backlines because he's so dominant as a forward also, but I do like lining up next to him in the middle."
Selwood said he had pulled up well from the two finals against Richmond and Sydney after missing the last three rounds of the home-and-away season as he recovered from ankle surgery.
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