Geelong coach Chris Scott has spoken about Jeremy Cameron's injury and its interruption to the Cats in the third quarter.
It was revealed post-game that Cameron played through a fractured arm after a brutal collision with skipper Patrick Dangerfield.
He came out in the second half with an arm guard but had minimal impact on proceedings, though Geelong opted to keep him out there, instead subbing out ruck Rhys Stanley.
"The challenge we had…I hope this doesn't sound like sour grapes, I think we all - and I'm at the head of the queue - will be rapt to see the back of the sub rule because besides the seriousness of the injury, the challenges there make planning difficult,” Scott said at his post-game press conference.
“It feels like a bit of deja vu in a respect…We were sort of waiting, waiting and waiting and didn't feel like we could make that sub…in the heat of the moment it's hard to work out is it a crack, is it a decent break, can he play, can't he?
“That took a long time to work out but he was heavily limited from late in the second quarter.”
The game got away from Geelong, which lost to Brisbane by 47 points, late in the third term.
Brisbane scored the last three goals of the third quarter to give the visitors a 19-point buffer at three-quarter-time that was built on significantly in the last quarter.
“We didn't quite set the ground up we would have liked,” Scott said.
“We gave them those opportunities.
“Scores were level at halftime, close enough to equal halfway through the third quarter, but it was rare that we thought the game was going the way that we wanted and there were various reasons for that, so I'll be thinking about them often at 3am over the next couple of months.”
The Geelong coach delivered an expansive two-minute monologue to open his press conference, paying tribute to both premiers Brisbane and his side for reaching the grand final.
“I'd like to start by congratulating Brisbane,” the Geelong coach said.
“Obviously a thoroughly deserved victory.
“They did it the hard way.
“To lose the first final and then need to come back to Melbourne two weeks in a row, to get the job done, you know you absolutely deserve it so full credit to them.
“It's obviously difficult for us right at the moment but in the fullness of time, when you think about the quality of team that beat us in this grand final, it might ease the pain a little bit.
“And I'd probably also just like to speak briefly about how proud I am of our club and players this season.
“Without going into detail, and I won't go into detail, there were a lot of things known and unknown that were really challenging for us this year and to be perfectly frank, there were times it seemed unlikely that we would be able to overcome those obstacles to give ourselves a chance today.”
