Geelong players pull coach Chris Scott away from ugly face-off with Lions

Senior Geelong players wanted cooler heads to prevail as they pulled coach Chris Scott away from an ugly confrontation with Brisbane stars on Friday night.

Tensions were high as the Cats took a 5.3 (33) to 2.5 (17) lead into quarter time and Scott appeared to want to relive his playing days by getting involved in a slanging match with the opposition.

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As both teams headed into their respective huddles, Scott wandered towards the Lions and looked to have words with players including firebrand Mitch Robinson and new recruit Joe Daniher.

Geelong star Cameron Guthrie also weighed in, then tried to pull Scott away as tempers threatened to boil over. He wasn’t successful, so Cats captain Joel Selwood came over and grabbed his coach by the arm, dragging him back towards his own troops.

Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor said: “Chris Scott comes over to the Lions players and I’m not sure what he was on about.

“Daniher has a go. Harris Andrews had a go. Chris Scott points to the other end of the ground. What was he alluding to? Cam Guthrie’s in there.

“Guthrie pulls Scott away and he looks straight at Andrews and he said, ‘What happened down there?’”

There was speculation the bad blood was related to an incident in the opening term where Geelong’s Gary Rohan took a swing at reigning Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale and looked to hit him in the head off-the-ball.

Neale bounced straight back up though and showed some cheek, flashing three fingers at Rohan — perhaps suggesting the Cat is facing a three-week ban for his brain explosion.

Adam Hill tweeted: “Coaches really shouldn’t be doing that to opposing players. Such a bad look.

“That exact thing is what leads to all in fights at local footy. Chris Scott should focus on his team and his team only.”

Former AFL journalist Rohan Connolly wrote: “Genuinely can’t work out what Chris Scott was dirty about, given only physical stuff we saw (on camera, anyway) was Rohan belting Neale and Selwood late in a tackle. Any (serious) idea anyone?”

The dramatic quarter-time bust-up came after COVID-19 caused chaos before the first bounce in Geelong, because Queensland recorded a new coronavirus case — who visited a dozen Brisbane venues while infectious.

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services announced new regulations relating to the latest positive test, saying anyone who arrived in the state from Brisbane since March 12 must get a coronavirus test and isolate until they receive a negative result.

The Lions fell under that category because they arrived from Queensland on Thursday, but the game went ahead after the visitors were granted an exemption due to enhanced biosecurity protocols players are abiding by.