A host of Geelong's biggest names were struck down by a virus in the days leading up to Friday night's preliminary final demolition at the hands of Melbourne.
The Cats were belted by 83 points at Optus Stadium in Perth, kicking just six goals as their 2021 campaign came to a grinding halt.
After the game, coach Chris Scott suggested his side had excuses but didn't elaborate further.
It's now been revealed several Geelong stars, including Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron, were ill and almost ruled out of the match.
Fox Footy's Tom Morris reports at least six players were sick, while Seven's Tom Browne put the figure at a minimum of eight.
"At least six Cats were struggling with a bad virus in the 48 hours leading up to the match," Morris revealed on Saturday.
"They included Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron, Brad Close, Cam Guthrie and Lachie Henderson.
"So unwell were these players that Geelong actually felt compelled to contact the AFL and let them know that they've got a virus that's sweeping through the playing list and they may need to get players from outside the emergency list into the 23."
All players were cleared of COVID-19, but Browne reported the players were experiencing similar symptoms.
"It happened post-training Thursday, with symptoms mirroring some COVID issues - chills, fever, temperature and nausea," Browne said.
"The players had to isolate before the game in their rooms. They were cleared to play but were significantly hampered."
The news comes following comments by Scott, which insinuated some issues within the Geelong camp before the match.
"We were pretty battered towards the end of the season. Not just the last couple of weeks but probably the six weeks leading into the finals series," Scott said in his post-match press conference.
"There's a few things I won't speak about tonight that will become clearer over the next few weeks.
"The last five or six weeks it feels like we've been plugging gaps a little bit. When you get to this stage of the year, you really need to be hot and have everything up and going.
"We just weren't good enough to get ourselves in a position where we could play our best footy and we came up against a team who was the opposite."