Geelong coach Chris Scott says club support rather than punish Tyson Stengle, Cats players when off-field incidents happen

With Tyson Stengle picked to face his former side after his nightclub incident, Geelong coach Chris Scott has defended the club’s approach.

Tyson Stengle (right) at training on Friday. Picture: Alan Barber

Geelong coach Chris Scott has declared he won’t treat under-fire small forward Tyson Stengle or his players like “school kids” in the wake of Stengle’s latest off-field incident.

Stengle was rushed to University Geelong Hospital at 2am on Sunday morning after being found unresponsive at Bloom nightclub in Geelong.

The star goalkicker has been picked to face his former side Adelaide, who sacked him in 2021 after a string of off-field indiscretions.

Stengle has been ticked off by Geelong’s medical team and impressed Scott on the track throughout the week, training fully in a light captain’s run on Friday morning.

Scott stressed that the Cats didn’t come down hard on Stengle like an “authoritarian regime” for the incident which occurred just hours after their win over North Melbourne in Hobart.

He echoed captain Patrick Dangerfield’s comments on Tuesday that it was an error of judgement for Stengle, but said a punitive approach wasn’t necessary and that there was not a pattern of behaviour for the 25-year-old.

Tyson Stengle at training on Friday. Picture: Alan Barber

Picture: Alan Barber

Asked if there would be consequences for another incident of a similar nature, Scott said: “I just don’t believe that that’s the culture we are trying to build here. We don’t treat them like school kids, if anything we kind of work for those guys.”

“We are here trying to create an environment where our players can thrive, it’s not an authoritarian regime where the coaches warn that if you behave badly, you’ll be turfed out. “Underlying all of that I think we all understand how the industry works, I mean it is mandated within the rules that we move players on at the end of the year.

“I don’t think they need to be reminded that this is a competition and that if you don’t perform or if there is a pattern of behaviour, long-term there will be consequences but to allay it to this situation with Tyson would be unfair.

“I do kind of subscribe to the idea that players out late, it becomes a bit of a risky environment. I become a bit concerned when it happens, but we are not going to put rules in place or curfews and have things fly in the face with what we are trying to build where we give our players room to think.

“They (Geelong’s medical staff) are supremely confident that he is in good shape. He certainly trained well, moved well and seems well enough in himself and excited to go and play well, which is what we expect.”

While Scott accepted it is their role to educate players, he said that the club acknowledged that “little hiccups” will continue to happen into the future.

But he said the alternative of having strict rules was more harmful for their culture and that treating players like adults was preferred.

Chris Scott believes a punitve approach wasn’t necessary. Picture: Alan Barber

“It was one of those things that is going to happen every now and again and we feel in a really good place to perform well this weekend,” Scott said.

“I think we’d all look back on certain situations and prefer, I’ll come off this press conference and I’ll think, ‘I wish I had’ve phrased that a little bit better, it was a little bit of an error of judgement to frame it that way instead of this way’

“Now those errors of judgement occur on a spectrum but what’s the alternative, that we would prefer everyone play it so safe. For example in this situation, ‘boys you can never go out because something might happen. You can never get in a car because car accidents happen.

“I don’t think we want to live our lives that way and I don’t think we want to run an environment like that as well, so if you are going to accept that we almost self select for risk-takers in an AFL environment and it’s not our job to make them straighty 180s.

“It is our job to make them better people for having been at the Geelong Footy Club, but we also at the same time need to accept that some of those errors of judgement will happen and we can shape them to try minimise the impact of it happening again.”

He said that Cats’ position on off-field indiscretions may differ to others and does not accept the common view that the club has a strong culture.

Scott believes the strict expectations and rules placed from clubs in the past aren’t helpful, opting to take a supportive approach instead.

“Sometimes there is a risk that we and I can come off a little defensive of our people. I can live with that, because that is part of our role, to help them as much as we can and defend them when it is required. I’m not sure whether it is the old days, this idea that the public flame is just not the way we do things and not something we are interested in,” Scott said.

“I get that others are interested in it and I get that some are baying for blood in some respects in these sort of incidents, but that’s just an indication that we have different roles within the industry and we respect theirs and I guess they would hope that they respect ours but if they don’t, that’s OK as well, each to their own.

“I don’t think many adults in a big company would accept ridiculous rules being placed upon them and I think it should be the same for footballers. Unfortunately our industry does suffer from how things were done in the past where 28-year-olds were treated like 14-year-olds. We are not going back to those days.”

Originally published as Geelong coach Chris Scott says club support rather than punish Tyson Stengle, Cats players when off-field incidents happen