Melbourne great Garry Lyon has launched an unlikely defence for the AFL and their finals structure, after a concussion to Geelong star Tom Stewart last Friday night ruled him out of this weekend’s grand final.

The Cats’ five-time All-Australian went down before quarter time in his side’s preliminary final win over Hawthorn at the MCG, in the cruellest of blows on the eve of the last Saturday in September.

Geelong’s vice-captain will become the first AFL player to miss a Grand Final next Saturday through the AFL’s concussion edict, that dictates a player must have at least 12 days to recover following a head injury.

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday evening, host Gerard Whateley posed the ongoing question around a bye between the preliminary and grand final week, which if existed, would have given Stewart a chance to recover in time for the big dance.

“There’s the individual heartache of this … and then there is the industry-wide debate, which sparked immediately. Is this the reason the bye should be before the grand final?” Whateley questioned.

Lyon responded: “I thought we’d come a long way as an organisation, and as a media group … conceding that we can’t have all these horrific (concussion) stories that are emerging, and not pay the attention we need to.”

“And in the end, we’re trying to make an excuse to get a player up to play, because he’s had his brain injured. It’s unfathomable for me that that’s the line that we’re taking.

“One of the reporters said this is a nightmare scenario for the AFL. No it’s not. What, any more of a nightmare than (Jarrod) Berry doing his shoulder or (Scott) Pendlebury doing the AFL? It’s a bigger nightmare because it’s a brain injury, that’s what I would say.”

Collingwood 425-game veteran Pendlebury was subbed out inside the first three minutes of his side’s clash with Brisbane last weekend, which would have also seen him miss the grand final had the Magpies qualified. Similarly, Berry is currently considered to be at long odds to retain his place for the Lions this Saturday afternoon.

“He’s got an injury like everyone else” | 01:00

Currently, the AFL holds a bye held between the end of the home-and-away season and first week of finals.

“I’m saying to the AFL ‘well done’, because you’ve out in place a system that protects us from trying to rush him back either onto the ground during the game, or next week because it’s a grand final,” Lyon continued.

“He’s not missing because he’s got a runny nose, which is what the sentiment was after the game … no, he’s got a brain injury.

“I’m absolutely shattered for Tom Stewart … but this has been happening forever. Players have been injured and suspended forever on grand final eve.”

Stewart’s replacement is expected to be veteran ruck Rhys Stanley, who is said to have fully recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out of last Friday evening’s match against Brisbane.