Lloyd backs 'frustrated' Cats following coach's Stengle admission
Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd has backed Geelong coach Chris Scott’s controversial statement surrounding the future of Tyson Stengle, saying he has sympathy for “frustrated” clubs.
Scott made clear on Monday that “there is a limit” to the support that he and the Cats can provide Stengle in his quest to return to the AFL.
Tyson Stengle in action for the Cats. Getty
The premiership forward has been absent for the Cats this season and has only featured in one VFL game, due to personal reasons.
The Cats have not rushed Stengle as he works to get back to the AFL, though they previously stated he was close to a return earlier in the season before further setbacks.
The 2022 All-Australian small forward signed an extension through to the end of 2029 reportedly on $800,000 per season.
However, Scott was honest in his frustration with his ongoing absence from the club.
“He’s been miles off being available for AFL selection, so it sort of hasn’t crossed my desk,” Scott told reporters on Monday.
“I suspect it really won’t until that becomes a bit more of a viable situation. We’re not there yet.”
As much as the coach hopes to see Stengle fit and firing, he admitted that the biggest priority for the 27-year-old is aiding his own welfare.
“You shouldn’t mistake the real priority that we place on player welfare for forgetting that we’re also in a high-performance industry where we have high expectations of our players and our people so that we can perform as well as possible,” Scott said.
“I’ve got so much admiration for the players that can just persevere through the ups and downs as well as they do.
“It is a bit of a surprise to me you don’t have more players just saying: ‘Look, I’m finding this too tough at the moment’.
“My take on where Tyson is at, that’s how he’s feeling about his football life at the moment; it’s just all a little bit hard for him.
“But there is a limit to our support with that because we’re like, ‘Hey man, we empathise with you; this is a tough game’. But there are limits to where our empathy takes us because we’re not a charity, as much as we’d like to be.”
Lloyd believes the Stengle situation mirrors others around the league in recent years, including Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at the Western Bulldogs in 2025, Clayton Oliver at Melbourne across the last few years and Bobby Hill’s last two seasons at Collingwood.
Patrick Dangerfield, Chris Scott and Tyson Stengle celebrate Geelong's 2022 grand final win. nna\anna.pavlou
He feels clubs are forced to carry players who are no longer putting their best foot forward.
“I feel for clubs. These players, they get these contracts, and yes there are circumstances where mental health is involved, but there’s also cases where players aren’t doing the best for themselves to play football, yet they’re still paid the full salaries that they signed,” Lloyd told 3AW.
“I admire Tom Boyd who just said ‘no, I’m retiring’ and gave up the money at the Dogs, but we don’t see that very often where players probably no longer have the hunger to play AFL football yet it just strings out and clubs have to pay them.
“Some would say it’s just bad luck for the clubs, but I’ve seen too many cases in the last year or two where I do feel for clubs. They bite their tongues, but they’re very, very frustrated with players on their list who aren’t living up to their end of the bargain.”
Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes agreed on Tuesday morning, saying clubs should not have to pay players in these situations.
“I just don’t think they should be required (to pay players in these circumstances),” Cornes told SEN.
“If you can’t turn up and do your job, you should not get paid.
“Of course there’s a grace period there, but at some point, and this was a long time ago with Jamarra or Bobby or Tyson or Clayton Oliver or whoever, that patience runs out.”
The Bulldogs opted to trade Ugle-Hagan to Gold Coast for a pick in the 70s, rather than pay him the final year of his contract worth reportedly close to $900,000 in 2026.
Oliver and Melbourne had a similar break-up, with the midfielder now thriving at GWS.
Scott meanwhile was asked if Stengle’s situation should become a matter for the AFL or remain internal at the Cats, to which he admitted he was not the right person to answer that.
He then confirmed that while Stengle remains unavailable, the Cats will likely see Tom Stewart and Bailey Smith back to face the Brisbane Lions on Thursday.
Stengle has played 93 career games for Geelong, kicking 160 goals.
He began his career at Richmond before being traded to Adelaide. However, the Crows delisted him at the start of the 2021 season due to a range of off-field indiscretions.
Stengle revived his career with the Cats, playing in the 2022 flag, but has had issues since, including needing to be taken to hospital in 2024 after collapsing in a nightclub.
The 27-year-old has not featured for Geelong since the 2025 grand final loss to Brisbane.
