{"id":515085,"date":"2026-03-03T02:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T02:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515085\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T02:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T02:47:15","slug":"chris-scott-welcomes-tanner-bruhns-return-to-cats-after-egregious-injustice-of-false-rape-allegation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515085\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Scott welcomes Tanner Bruhn’s return to Cats after ‘egregious injustice’ of false rape allegation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong’s Tanner Bruhn is set for his first AFL game in 17 months after suffering the “egregious” injustice of being falsely accused of rape, his coach says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruhn will play for the Cats in their season-opener against Gold Coast on Friday night after missing last season while facing criminal charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruhn was stood down by the AFL when charged with rape and intentional sexual touching. Those charges were dropped last November when a key witness admitted to lying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors drop sexual assault, rape charges against Tanner Bruhn<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawyers for Geelong AFL player Tanner Bruhn say “false allegations” were made against him and a friend, telling the media the pair have been vindicated in court.<\/p>\n

Geelong coach Chris Scott says Bruhn will play against the Suns \u2014 his first AFL game since the 2024 preliminary final.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s just fantastic for him to get out there and be able to concentrate on footy after what is one of the most egregious injustices I can think of in the game,” Scott told reporters on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So to put that behind him, I think, is positive for everyone.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott was reluctant to detail the support he offered to the 23-year-old Bruhn, who has played 66 AFL games since his debut in 2021 at GWS. He transferred to Geelong at the end of the 2022 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve said more than I wanted to anyway, it’s largely a private matter and I don’t want to draw any more attention to it than he would like,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’d support him in all the ways that you would imagine but I don’t want to walk you through it.”<\/p>\n

Scott trialled Bruhn at half-back instead of his customary midfield position during the pre-season.<\/p>\n

“It’s his first game [back] but he’s really been training and he played a practice game against Carlton, he’s kind of ready to go,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So I think we’ll all look back and think this was a small step \u2014 it’s important that we don’t overplay it.”<\/p>\n

Scott confirmed aces Jeremy Cameron and Bailey Smith would feature in the away game against the Suns after battling thigh and calf ailments respectively in the pre-season.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jeremy Cameron is set to feature for Geelong despite an interrupted pre-season. (AAP: James Ross\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Forward\/ruck Shannon Neale would also front after copping a knock to a shin in the last pre-season trial, but forward Gryan Miers (thumb) remained in doubt.<\/p>\n

“We don’t have a very high tolerance for pushing guys that aren’t ready,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

“We’re much less tolerant of that stuff now \u2026 he (Miers) had surgery on a thumb, he has got the all-clear to play but just because he can play doesn’t mean he should.<\/p>\n

“Gryan, it’s one of those situations where 15 years ago he would be a certainty \u2026 because it was a badge of honour playing with these things.”<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong’s Tanner Bruhn is set for his first AFL game in 17 months after suffering the “egregious” injustice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,12923,13659,85,160380],"class_list":["post-515085","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-chris-scott","tag-geelong-cats","tag-sports","tag-tanner-bruhn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515085","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=515085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}