Patrick Dangerfield is devastated for great friend and teammate Tom Stewart, tempering his jubilation at reaching the AFL grand final.

The Geelong captain unleashed one of the all-time great individual finals games to rally the Cats after a slow start and lead them to a 17.13 (115) to 13.7 (85) preliminary final win over Hawthorn.

But reaching a third grand final in six years has come at a massive cost, with Stewart subbed off in the first term because of concussion.

That means the Cats vice-captain will miss the grand final on Saturday week against either Collingwood or Brisbane.

"He's one of my great friends. It's not just the playing part for me, it's the person he is," Dangerfield said.

"He's been such an enormous part of the success we've been able to have as a club over a long p

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