He has been one of the heartbreak stories of the last decade of grand finals.

But Max Holmes is hellbent on rewriting his script.

As his teammates basked in premiership glory, cheers and beers, it was only tears for Holmes in 2022 who missed the game due to a hamstring injury.

Under his covers and the cover of home, away from the cameras and body language experts that follow every move in football’s most defining week, things got dark.

Outwardly, the team man smiled and supported his teammates.

But he was crushed.

“There’s a dark part of you that almost hopes they lose the grand final,” Holmes admitted this week.

“As much as I didn’t want them to lose, there was a little bit of ‘it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they do (lose)’.

“I was so pumped that the boys did end up winning and I got to see all my mates get up, but it was really tough.

“It’s nice to be on the opposite end of that this time.”

Three years ago, the speedy young Cat was just 20 years old when he twinged his hamstring late in the Cats’ preliminary final win over Brisbane.

In the hope he could play in the grand final, he did all the right things.

There was 10pm whirlpool walking and Epsom baths and then a fitness test on grand final Friday morning.

He was right to go, he thought.

But he was out.

“This was one of those calls where, in my mind, he is probably 98 per cent there but we just needed certainty for the team, it’s really hard on him,” coach Chris Scott said at the time.

“We are just going to go with the fit guys.”

Holmes didn’t understand it then. He gets it now. Sort of.

He escaped the country and his teammates’ celebrations, jetting to Bali in the aftermath and admitting he carried his pain the wrong way in the season that followed.

No one could help. Club staff, teammates, family, friends. They were all there, of course, but they didn’t really get it.

“It’s one of those things that all the boys as a collective put their arm around me and were really great to me, but in a way, it was something that I had to handle myself,” Holmes said.

“I got through the other side, which was good.”

If he had the same injury this week, he’d play, he says.

He was young then. Not as influential as the dashing reigning best and fairest winner that he has become.

“At the time I was pissed with Scotty, (but) now if I can put into my mind a similar person to me, I can see exactly why he did what he did and I respect that decision,” he said.

“We got a few coffees over that off-season, kind of talking about everything and nothing at the same time, forming that relationship.

“I kind of think to an extent I didn’t have that much of a relationship with Scotty anyway but now we’re quite close together.

“We’ve got a good relationship now despite what has happened, it was all in the past and I understand the decision now.

“Obviously at the time you don’t, it makes sense to me, so there’s no judgment on it.

“Hopefully we can just get one (premiership) this week and put it in the past.”

Holmes had a point to prove then, and does on Saturday too.

“I was really determined after that to really show … almost show the club that ‘you shouldn’t have left me out’, in a sense,” Holmes said.

“Because of it, I had a really inconsistent 2023, and was kind of playing a bit too much on emotion and drawing from that kind of loss too much.

“I had a different mindset last year and played a better year, and it’s hard to know if I would have kept improving if I was in the team, or what could happen, but I’m happy enough with how it turned out.”

How it’s turned out has seen his fellow East Malvern local and polar opposite personality Bailey Smith join him in a Geelong midfield that has stars at every turn and is one of the most damaging setups in the game.

It’s about balance.

If Smith – all firebrand, headband, flair and headlines – is the “fizz”, Holmes is more a still water kind of guy.

“We get along really well,” he said of his electric, pre-game-wall-headbutting mate.

“By the time you get onto the field, it’s a bit irrelevant what kind of personality you have … I’m a relaxed individual in the game, whereas he’s pretty up and about.

“Probably being the polar opposite helps us out a bit. He gets me up and going and he relaxes me a little bit, I’d say. I love playing with him and have loved being around him this year.

“Sometimes he gets very fizzed up. But there’s not much you can do about it.”

One might think Holmes would be amped for the parade, the raucous crowd after the national anthem or even Snoop Dogg come Saturday, now that he’ll be in the thick of the action.

The jubilation of the Cats faithful upon their first goal, even.

None of that – he really just wants it over with.

“I’m almost just looking forward to the final siren to be honest, in a way,” he sheepishly smiled.

“Win or loss, just it’s a bit of angst this week waiting for it to start.

“I was a bit antsy the other day waiting for the prelim to start. I’m almost just ready for it to be done. I’ve really enjoyed this year, but I’m ready for it to be over a little bit.

“The final siren, and hopefully it’s a positive final siren.”