Alastair Clarkson and Mark Thompson both claimed their sides left nothing in the tank on Friday night. But a glance at both sides' injury list suggests they still have aces up their respective sleeves.
Despite the unexpected success of the Western Bulldogs this season, the Cats and the Hawks are still, in the eyes of punters and pundits, the most likely teams to face off on the last Saturday in September.
If not, they will almost certainly do battle on at least one more occasion this year, either in the first week of the finals or during the penultimate weekend of the season.
With that in mind, both coaches would be forgiven for playing ducks and drakes on the whiteboard.
But Thompson said 'we didn't hold anything back'.
"What you got tonight is similar to what you're going to get when we play the Hawks again," he said.
Clarkson at least remembered to point out that both sides would change even if 'there wasn't too much held in the bank'.
On face value, it seems the Cats have more scope for improvement. Gary Ablett is an elite midfielder, Cameron Ling the competition's best tagger and Darren Milburn one of the game's best attacking defenders.
The Hawks were without veteran Shane Crawford and three handy foot soldiers in Stuart Dew, Clinton Young and Ben McGlynn.
Those absent for Geelong will have the Hawthorn brains trust scratching its head more than what Crawford and co will have for the Cats.
The Cats know Max Rooke is capable of holding his own against Luke Hodge which could allow Cameron Ling to shadow Sam Mitchell, who was close to best on ground on Friday night.
Conversely, Ablett's presence will draw the attention of the Hawks' best tagger and lessen the pressure on Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey, who both had more attention than they have had previously on Friday.
Will Milburn play on Franklin, allowing Matthew Scarlett to play on the less imposing Jarryd Roughead? The flow on effect could mean Tom Harley finds a more suitable match-up than Campbell Brown, who surprisingly played in attack rather than his customary role in Hawthorn's back line.
That move, which will not have the same surprise effect in September, ensured Harley would have to at least show more caution should he decide to zone off his opponent, Clarkson said.
"I think Tom would have known by playing on Campbell that he couldn't give him too much of a leg rope because Campbell can hurt many opposition when that occurs," Clarkson said.
"So that meant Tom wasn't able to probably drop off as much as he usually does. He's the No.1 player in the competition for taking marks off the opposition boot going inside 50."
"He's a very, very good player in that regard reading the play. I'm sure Campbell playing that role made him a little bit more wary."
Clarkson said Brown showed he could play at both ends of the ground, which was important as it gave the side extra flexibility. For that measure, Hodge too played in defence, which is where he started his league career.
"He did some terrific work for us up that part of the ground today. That's not to be certain that he'll play there again next week," Clarkson said.
Clarkson was talking about Brown in those grabs. But it could also apply to any other ace he has hidden in the pack.