‘Don’t pretend it’s not’: Coach hits out at ‘frustrating’ Opening Round claim

Cats coach Chris Scott has taken issue with one aspect of Opening Round, while calling on the AFL to admit to one thing.

Chris Scott weighed in on Opening Round.

Geelong coach Chris Scott has called on the AFL to admit the season’s fixture is compromised after Opening Round.

The Cats are preparing to take on St Kilda this week to open their season, one week after eight clubs opened their 2024 campaign.

Asked if the addition of Opening Round impacted the fixture’s fairness, Scott told AFL 360: “Of course it does.”

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Pressed further on the issue afterwards, Scott added: “I think the bigger compromise is that those teams get two byes.

“If you ask the players - and this has gone on for a long time - the players association pushed the AFL to bring back two byes and the AFL’s answer was always that there’s no time.

“But now they’ve found the time, that’s the frustrating part.

Chris Scott isn’t a fan of Opening Round.

“Compromise sometimes gets a bad wrap, sometimes you need to compromise for the greater good, that could be rhetorical case in this situation.

“My point is don’t pretend it’s not a compromise, of course it is.”

Appearing on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, Executive General Manager of Football Operations Laura Kane said Opening Round was at the very least a good chance to go ahead once more next year.

“If you asked anyone today they’d probably say yes, all the eight clubs that participated, everyone up there,” she said.

“We’ll look at it, we’ll review it as we do everything, but I loved it.”

Originally published as ‘Don’t pretend it’s not’: Coach hits out at ‘frustrating’ Opening Round claim