Geelong champion Tom Stewart says the abandoned opening round match could be a blessing

A five-time All Australian says Geelong’s abandoned match against Brisbane in the Sunshine State could allow the Cats a smoother run at the start of the season.

Tom Stewart leads Jack Gunston to the ball in the Cats’ February 17 practice match. Picture: Michael Klein

Geelong champion Tom Stewart has hinted that the abandoned opening round game in Brisbane might actually prove to be a positive for the Cats, adding more “flow” and a “natural progression” to the start of their season.

The AFL switched the Gabba clash to Round 3 after Cyclone Alfred threatened the Sunshine State late last week.

“You take any extra prep you can,” Stewart said on Monday, with the Cats to take on Fremantle at Kardinia Park on Saturday.

“It was going to be a bit of a stop-start for us early in the year, now we get a bit of flow early in the first part of our season which we’ll take advantage of.

“Opening round, a couple of games, week off, then 11 games straight.”

The Cats will be looking to replicate its strong start of 2024 where they won their first seven in a row, while the following two fixtures were decided by eight and six points.

Tom Stewart says the abandoned opening round match against Brisbane has gifted the Cats a more streamlined start to the season. Picture: Mark Wilson

When asked if he had prepared for further time in the midfield this year, Stewart said he was just one of the majority who would be asked to be flexible in 2025.

“Our biggest advantage is our ability to throw different names through different parts of the ground, whether it be me in the midfield or Lawson (Humphries) through there or whoever it may be,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stewart says any perceived or real crack down on the interpretation on 15m kicks by the umpiring fraternity is likely to revert back to normalcy by the early rounds.

A number of clubs reportedly told AFL.com.au they believed the short kicks for marks were being more tightly interpreted during the pre-season and opening round.

Stewart told this masthead on Monday the Cats experienced a degree of this interpretation against Essendon in its last pre-season match before its opening round fixture with Brisbane but wasn’t reading too much into it.

“I’ll say this with a bit of tongue in cheek, there’s always a few rules that really get (interpreted) hard and fast at the start of the year, they say they’re going to crack down on,” Stewart said.

Tom Stewart at training in late February. Picture: Michael Klein

“But I think by the time you get to around round four or five, the loosening of the interpretation starts to happen.

“And you refer back to what is normalcy in footy terms.

“We experienced a little bit of that in the Essendon game (last month) I think with the interpretation ... you walk a fine line with where 15m is.

“It’s left up to the umpire’s discretion but I think we’ll sort of see it revert back to the way it has in the past.”

Stewart, who copped some effective tags early in the season last year, prompting a shift into a hybrid midfield role, said 2024 had not been any more challenging than any other.

He also backed up assistant coach James Kelly’s earlier comments that Bailey Smith had been a strong influence on the younger players on the track, and had “played with penetration” against Hawthorn in their pre-season game last month.

“He’s been jumping out of his skin to be honest with you,” Stewart said about Smith’s imminent debut with Geelong.

“It’s been a long and challenging road for him individually.

“But ever since he’s got to the club I’ve been really proud of how he’s applied himself to his craft.

“He’s really dragged a lot of the young boys along as well.”

Originally published as Geelong champion Tom Stewart says the abandoned opening round match could be a blessing