shattering head knock<\/a>, Stewart was back to his best representing Victoria in the 24-point AFL Origin win on Saturday night, racking up 22 touches, six marks, six score involvements and almost 400m gained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s special (playing for Victoria),\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n
Geelong\u2019s Victoria representatives Patrick Dangerfield, Chris Scott, Max Holmes, Tom Stewart and Bailey Smith.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Pissed us off! Smith post-match | 02:51<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have my nearest and dearest here as well, it\u2019s been an amazing experience. It\u2019s hard to quantify to put into words.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not lost on me how lucky I am to be out here representing the state. At stages it did feel like a bit of impostor syndrome for myself. I\u2019ve achieved a lot in the game, but to look around and see your favourite players that you\u2019ve idolised from other clubs, you do pinch yourself in stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see Zak Butters, Caleb Serong, Lachie Ash who is a star of the game, Bontempelli \u2013 you\u2019re just like wow, it does feel a bit surreal. To be a part of it, I am really, really proud and it\u2019s not lost on me how lucky I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart was one of five Cats players in the AFL Origin contest \u2013 alongside Patrick Dangerfield, Bailey Smith, Max Holmes and Lawson Humphries, while Victoria\u2019s coaching staff was headed up by Chris Scott.<\/p>\n
And it was Scott who Stewart paid tribute to in the rooms post-match.<\/p>\n
Hawks vs Cats: Pre-Season Highlights | 12:14<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s well deserved for the coach as well,\u201d he said of Scott\u2019s selection as Victoria\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been an amazing servant for our club, he\u2019s been uber successful for a long period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a great supporter of mine too. I wouldn\u2019t be the player I am and have the career I\u2019ve had without him, and him backing me for long period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe holds a special place in my heart and I\u2019m very thankful to know him very well and grateful to be led by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geelong star Tom Stewart.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Cats will head into the 2026 season staring down a brutal AFL grand final curse that dates back to 1995, after being beaten by the Lions by 47 points.<\/p>\n
The last 14 teams to lose a grand final by at least 40 points have failed to win a final the following year.<\/p>\n
But Stewart remains hopeful Geelong\u2019s incredible September hot streak \u2013 where they\u2019ve missed finals just twice in Chris Scott\u2019s 15 years at the helm \u2013 rolls on, with Connor O\u2019Sullivan one to watch in 2026.<\/p>\n
Victoria beat WA in epic Origin clash | 03:02<\/p>\n
\u201cSully at the moment, he\u2019s coming on in leaps and bounds. I\u2019m really excited for his future and what the future holds for him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a fast kid, he works extremely hard on his game. He\u2019s an absolute star. I\u2019m very excited to see what he can do moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited for another great team at the Cats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geelong will start their 2026 campaign with an Opening Round clash against the Gold Coast Suns on March 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 AFL season didn\u2019t finish the way Tom Stewart planned. But the humble Cats star, who has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[233553,638,64,63,689,55,639,3237,246203,9203,12923,19061,74604,8001,246204,13659,2105,9130,11288,60462,7492,5096,246201,71054,218846,12137,647,7198,677,39209,46,244991,94904,1820,246202,85,12113,660,246200,3439,23510],"class_list":{"0":"post-486699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-aami-community-series-live","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-brisbane-lions","16":"tag-brutal-head-knock","17":"tag-catherine-healey","18":"tag-chris-scott","19":"tag-coaching-staff","20":"tag-concussion-protocol","21":"tag-concussion-protocols","22":"tag-finals-curse","23":"tag-geelong-cats","24":"tag-getty-images-inc","25":"tag-gold-coast-suns","26":"tag-grand-final","27":"tag-grand-final-loss","28":"tag-hawthorn-hawks","29":"tag-head-knock","30":"tag-impostor-syndrome","31":"tag-male-player","32":"tag-match-simulation","33":"tag-max-holmes","34":"tag-melbourne","35":"tag-michael-willson","36":"tag-oceania","37":"tag-patrick-dangerfield","38":"tag-perth","39":"tag-rib-fracture","40":"tag-rooms-post-match","41":"tag-score-involvements","42":"tag-shattering-head-knock","43":"tag-sports","44":"tag-tom-stewart","45":"tag-victoria","46":"tag-victoria-representatives-patrick","47":"tag-western-australia","48":"tag-zak-butters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486699","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=486699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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