Geelong must beat Hawthorn to reach this year's Grand Final

THE COACH: GEELONG will have to conjure a 12th-consecutive win against Hawthorn if it is to make this year's Grand Final.

GEELONG will have to conjure a 12th-consecutive win against arch rivals Hawthorn if it is to make this year's Grand Final after suffering a shock qualifying final loss to Fremantle.

The 15-point defeat was just the second time the Cats have lost at Simonds Stadium in six seasons.

It means Geelong will have to back-up at the MCG off a six-day break for a semi-final next Friday night, potentially without champion defender Corey Enright who hurt his right knee.

Dockers stun Cats in boilover

The winner of that game will play the Hawks the following week.

Cats coach Chris Scott paid credit to Dockers ruck duo Aaron Sandilands and Zac Clarke, who amassed 50 hitouts to Mark Blicavs and Josh Walker's 13, and said "the difference in the game on a global level was that they got some easy goals ... and they didn't give us any''.

Scott made the painstaking decision to withdraw Tom Hawkins in the morning after the full forward's troublesome back again flared this week.

The coach said Hawkins simply wasn't right to play but said in hindsight his absence changed the way the game was played.

"Big key forwards in pressure games where it's very contested and there are lots of numbers in front of the ball are really important,'' Scott said.

"He's our club champion from last season and is a really important player for us. Yeah, you take him out and it hurts a little bit but it was an opportunity for Josh Walker and I think he'll be better for it.''

The Cats had 15 inside 50s to nine in the final term but failed to kick a goal while the Dockers managed two.

Scott said he would have liked his players to be more inventive going forward in the dying stages.

"In a perfect world we'd maybe take a few more risks and maybe we did kick the ball back to them a little bit,'' he said.

"But I thought we had enough chances to win the game, it was a matter of not taking them rather than playing the wrong way.''

Enright went down in the second quarter, came back on to the ground after a spending time in the rooms, but was substituted at half time.

Scott said he hoped the decision to remove Enright from the game early would give him a chance of playing next week, but also conceded that the fact the defender wasn't able to play on "is a little bit of a concern''.

"We'll monitor it closely, he's obviously a crucial player for us,'' he said.

"I couldn't speculate on the severity, but, as you know, when they can't play on it's more than just a niggle.''

On the prospect of playing Hawthorn in a preliminary final should his side win next week, Scott was circumspect.

"It's more how many you've got to play than who you've got to play to win it,'' he said.

"You've got to beat them all (eventually) so Hawthorn or Freo in a prelim? I'm not sure which I'd rather to be honest.''