{"id":410239,"date":"2024-07-07T22:49:16","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T22:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=410239"},"modified":"2024-07-08T00:06:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:06:24","slug":"you-shouldnt-be-forced-coachs-swipe-at-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=410239","title":{"rendered":"'You shouldn't be forced': Coach's swipe at AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong<\/a> coach Chris Scott<\/a> has again pushed for his club to play all 11 of their home games at their home ground, GMHBA Stadium.<\/p>\n

His comments come after the Cats' 51-point win over Hawthorn on Saturday night, strengthening their hold on fifth spot, after a dismal seven-week patch of football that saw them record one win and six losses.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Now, with Geelong looking hopeful to lock in a finals berth, Scott has again addressed the issue of the Cats playing home finals.<\/p>\n

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The Cats have only ever played one final at their actual home ground, GMHBA Stadium, back in 2013 against Fremantle.<\/p>\n

They lost that qualifying final by 15 points and since then, have never been allowed by the AFL to play another September match at home.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Now, Scott is pushing his case again.<\/p>\n

This time, he wants Geelong to play all of their home games, plus finals, if they qualify, at GMHBA Stadium.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I've spoken about this a lot. I think every team should play their 11 homes games where they choose," Scott said after Geelong's win on Saturday.<\/p>\n

"If they choose to farm them to Alice Springs, or Darwin, that's fine. But you shouldn't be forced to play home games away from your home venue."<\/p>\n

\"Scott.\"<\/p>\n

Geelong playing a final at GMHBA Stadium would be no different to Sydney playing host to a final at their ground, the SCG.<\/p>\n

That will likely happen come September, with the Swans sitting two games clear on top of the ladder.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I promised them I wouldn't get drawn into these things, but I'm on record for saying that," Scott said.<\/p>\n

"That's one of the first things you'd do if you were starting a competition from scratch (let teams play all home games at their home ground)."<\/p>\n

\"Geelong<\/p>\n

"That's the Geelong choice to play all 11 home games down at Geelong."<\/p>\n

Geelong great Jimmy Bartel, who played in the Cats' one and only final at Kardinia Park back in 2013, understands why Scott is pushing so hard for his club's cause.<\/p>\n

"Surprise, surprise, a club backing their own narrative," Bartel said on Nine's Footy Furnace<\/em> on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

"I think with Victorian clubs they have to commit to playing a home game at Marvel Stadium."<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

Bartel\ufeff also knows that Scott isn't asking for all of their games at home to take away from the league.<\/p>\n

He said the Cats would still likely be keen to play big Melbourne-based clubs, like Collingwood or Carlton, at the MCG, to allow more fans the chance to attend.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"They still might want to play the likes of Collingwood and get a big crowd at the MCG," he said.<\/p>\n

GMHBA Stadium's capacity is now at 40,000, with their stage five renovations finally completed at the start of this season.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geelong coach Chris Scott has again pushed for his club to play all 11 of their home games at their home ground, GMHBA Stadium. His […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":410241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410245,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410239\/revisions\/410245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/410241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}