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Lynch: Do Geelong have legal options to overturn Stewart blow?
SEN • September 22nd, 2025 11:40 am
Could Geelong be weighing up their legal options to mount a case for Tom Stewart to be free to play in the Grand Final?
Alastair Lynch certainly thinks so.
A tackle by Hawthorn's Mabior Chol saw Stewart's head forced into the ground in the first quarter and he played no further part in Geelong's 30-point Preliminary Final win on Friday night.
The five-time All-Australian is now unavailable for 12 days as per league protocols.
With his subsequent unavailability for the Grand Final next weekend, the debate over the scheduling of the late season bye has reignited with Cats coach Chris Scott calling for a week off before the season's climax, and not a pre-finals bye.
With Stewart unavailable, Lynch questioned whether the club would make any attempt at a legal fight to free up their man - if fit.
"I would be staggered if this morning Geelong aren’t talking to their legal people about their options if he is well," Lynch said on SEN Tassie Breakfast.
"Andrew Dillon said over the weekend that the general time to return to play is 19 days, it’s been taking longer than the 12 to get back.
"That’s average and no doubt there are players ready before 12.
"I would think they will be looking at legal options if indeed Tom is fit and well.
"When you look at concussion and CTE and the ramifications and how serious an issue it is, we have seen in the AFL. But in the NFL, they have a return to play which is five steps but no timelines. You have to tick the five boxes to get back to play but you can do it in a week or five days.
"Maybe Geelong will be looking at this if he is fit and well to play.
"Outside of concussion, it’s the pinnacle of our game. Have the bye before the Grand Final and build up these two teams. It would mean Lachie Neale could be back and Stewart would be able to play if fit."
Currently the bye round is the week after the home and away season as opposed to the week before the Grand Final, something Scott hopes changes in the next 12 months.
“I’m very pro a week off before the Grand Final, if we can sneak that in this year,” he said after the Cats' 115-85 victory over the Hawks.
“The Stewart one’s a bit hard to take right at the moment.
“I understand it’s not optimal for the AFL to have masses of players rested for inconsequential games in the last home-and-away round of the year, but I just didn’t think that was a good enough reason.
“I feel that the clubs should have autonomy over this stuff, and it was in a period of time, too, where the AFL just couldn’t find another space for a bye during the year and then they found one overnight.”
