Geelong coach Chris Scott says he’ll be “rapt to see the back of the sub rule” after navigating an injured Jeremy Cameron in his side’s heavy grand final loss to Brisbane he’ll be “thinking about at 3am.”
Cameron suffered an arm injury late in the second quarter of the Cats’ 47-point loss after a friendly fire collision with Patrick Dangerfield that left the star forward worse for wear.
There’s concerns Cameron broke his arm, despite playing out the game with a guard in a heroic effort but struggling to impact in a tough day for the Cats.
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Geelong instead opted to sub out Rhys Stanley at three-quarter time after Brisbane began to push away.
And speaking after the match, Scott said the uncertainty around the severity of Cameron’s injury made a call on the sub, which is expected to be removed for 2026, particularly challenging to manage.
“I’ll say one thing – and I hope this doesn’t sound like sour grapes: I think we all – and I’m at the head of the queue – will be rapt to see the back of the sub rule,” Scott said.
“Besides the seriousness of the injury, the challenges there make planning difficult and it feels like a bit of deja vu in a respect. We were sort of waiting and waiting and it didn’t feel like we could make that sub until we had some clarity there.
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“In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to work out if it’s a crack, is it a decent break, can he play, can’t he play – and it took a long time to work out. But he was heavily limited from late in that second quarter.
“I don’t think you have any choice but to submit yourself to your medical team and just give them the space to be able to do what they need to do.”
After scores were tied at half-time and the game was close for the majority of the third term, Brisbane broke away with three quick goals leading into the final change.
The Lions then unleashed a scoring flurry in the fourth term with nine goals to Geelong’s five — three in junk time — in what turned into a thrashing at the MCG.
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It came after Geelong went into the game as favourites, including defeating Brisbane in the qualifying three weeks ago, as Scott and company will be left to dwell on where it all fell apart over a long off-season.
“In a real arm-wrestle, they just got a couple of goals late and we didn’t quite set the ground up the way we would’ve liked that gave them those opportunities,” Scott said.
“Scores were level at half-time, close enough to level halfway through the third quarter. But it was rare we thought the game was going the way we wanted.
“There were various reasons for that, so I’ll be thinking about them at 3am often over the next couple of months.”
Scott gave credit to the Lions, who became the first team to go back-to-back since Richmond in 2020 and the first club to reach five flags this century.
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“I’d like to start by congratulating Brisbane. A thoroughly deserved victory. They did it the hard way and when you lose a first final and then need to come back to Melbourne two weeks in a row – and when you get the job done, you know you absolutely deserve it. Full credit to them,” he said.
But the Cats boss aid there were “10 to 12 things” including Tom Stewart’s brutal concussion blow — without revealing more details — that really challenged the club this season, which is why he remained proud of the team’s resilience.
“It’s difficult for us right in the moment, but I think in the fullness of time when you sit back and think about the quality of team that beat us in this Grand Final, it might ease the pain a little bit,” he added.
“I’d also like to speak briefly about how proud we are of our players and our club this season. Without going into detail, there were a lot of things know and unknown that were really challenging for us this year.
“To be perfectly frank, there were times where it just seemed unlikely we would be able to overcome those obstacles to give ourselves a chance today.
“But even without those things, I’d still be really proud with the way our club and players in particular keep fronting up.
“In the first half, we went in scores level, but it just didn’t feel like we were able to play the way we had in the last couple of months. It’s a bitter pill to swallow because I think we’d shown that our best footy was going to challenge anyone … but we just couldn’t get it done today
“There were things within the game that went against us, but that’s not just footy, that’s life.”
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