{"id":154929,"date":"2025-09-19T18:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154929\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T18:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:40:08","slug":"tom-stewart-concussed-in-geelong-cats-preliminary-final-vs-hawthorn-hawks-not-eligible-for-grand-final-selection-injury-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154929\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Stewart concussed in Geelong Cats preliminary final vs Hawthorn Hawks, not eligible for grand final selection, injury, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong suffered a colossal blow in the first quarter of preliminary final triumph over Hawthorn<\/a>, with star defender Tom Stewart subbed out due to a concussion and subsequently ruled out of next Saturday\u2019s grand final. <\/p>\n

The heartbreak story has reignited debate over whether the AFL should move the pre-finals bye to pre-grand final, which would ensure that players who suffered concussion or short-term injury could recover in time to play in a decider. <\/p>\n

Stewart was claimed in a brutal Mabior Chol tackle, with the five-time All-Australian\u2019s arms pinned while his head made heavy contact with the MCG turf. <\/p>\n

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The diagnosis means the 32-year-old stopper will enter the league\u2019s 12-day concussion protocols and be unavailable for grand final selection, while Chol is expected to be subjected to Match Review scrutiny \u2014 adding more salt in the wounds of Friday night\u2019s 30-point loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cVery quickly, as he (Stewart) left the ground, it was apparent that he had a wobble in his step. Only minutes later, he was ruled out by Geelong,\u201d Herald Sun and Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph began at quarter-time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly the kind of incident that we worried about with a pre-finals bye, rather than a pre-grand final bye. It\u2019s why Greg Swann, the AFL\u2019s new football boss, is considering changing those rules. <\/p>\n

\u201cAFL coaches have feared this day for four years since the AFL introduced the mandatory 12-day concussion protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the brutal Stewart situation post-game, Geelong coach Chris Scott suggested a tweak to the AFL calendar was necessary. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am very pro a week off before the grand final, if we can sneak that in this year (for the future),\u201d Scott told reporters. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s black and white. He (Stewart) knows, we know. It\u2019s a shattering situation for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Huge blow’ as Stewart cops concussion | 00:40<\/p>\n

Regarding the potential for Chol to be suspended by MRO chief Michael Christian, West Coast premiership player Will Schofield wrote on social media platform X mid-game: \u201cMabior Chol has an interesting week ahead if Hawthorn win. Surely that\u2019s not weeks? Pinned and concussed says otherwise, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Triple premiership Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown declared Chol \u201cabsolutely should not get suspended\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could he have done? You would have to be the strongest human to be able to turn and stop the momentum from going forward,\u201d Brown told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know which way the game\u2019s tracking, but you cannot miss a Grand Final from that action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins added: \u201cI think he even tries to minimise the impact when he\u2019s pushed forward into Tom Stewart with his right arm, so look, you\u2019d be disappointed for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s trying to protect the player … these things happen in our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Stewart of the Cats. Picture: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Immediately after Stewart went down, AFL Legend Jason Dunstall suspected it might\u2019ve been a wrist injury for the Geelong gun \u2014 given it appeared to be trapped awkwardly under his body \u2014 saying: \u201cHas he landed on his wrist, maybe? All the weight (of the tackle) going through that right wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demons great Garry Lyon said: \u201cThis is not what the Geelong fans would like. So, Jack Henry, who\u2019s in all sorts of trouble with a foot, (and now Stewart).\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunstall chimed in again: \u201cWe love the physical side of it, but we don\u2019t want players injured. We want these two (sides) going at it for four quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid a start to the contest which saw Hawthorn kick the opening three goals of the game, Lyon added: \u201cThis is what coaching is all about now \u2014 \u2018OK, we\u2019re on the back foot here, we\u2019ve lost one, potentially two in our back half \u2014 and you couldn\u2019t pick two who are more important\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a consolation for the Cats, Henry returned to the field of play late in the first quarter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong suffered a colossal blow in the first quarter of preliminary final triumph over Hawthorn, with star defender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,103471,13117,10145,13659,11288,6278,7492,19972,49793,3231,12149,103139,681,14402,8004,103469,19095,74197,8016,45402,85,12100,103470,12113,45705,23297],"class_list":["post-154929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-colossal-blow","tag-football-boss","tag-garry-lyon","tag-geelong-cats","tag-grand-final","tag-greg-swann","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-injury-update","tag-jack-henry","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jason-dunstall","tag-jeff-smith","tag-jon-ralph","tag-mabior-chol","tag-michael-christian","tag-pre-grand-final-bye","tag-preliminary-final","tag-preliminary-finals","tag-premiership-player","tag-social-media-platform","tag-sports","tag-star-defender","tag-star-stopper","tag-tom-stewart","tag-will-schofield","tag-wrist-injury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}