Chris Scott said he'll be happy to see the back of the sub rule after Jeremy Cameron's injury left the Geelong coaches' box with some difficult decisions to make in their Grand Final defeat to Brisbane.
The Cats went down by 47 points, having been on the wrong end of a rampant Lions side during a stunning third and fourth quarter surge.
As Brisbane got on a roll, Scott and his colleagues were grappling with the prospect of substituting the injured Cameron.
MORE: GEELONG PLAYER RATINGS | BRISBANE PLAYER RATINGS
In the end, they were left to rue their inaction, with Cameron having little impact after a collision with Patrick Dangerfield appeared to fracture his right arm.
Cameron spent significant time off the field receiving treatment and was ultimately held to eight touches for two behinds, while Jack Martin, who was eventually subbed on in favour of Rhys Stanley, had just one disposal in 20 per cent game time.
"I hope this doesn't sound like sour grapes," Scott said in his post-match press conference.
"I think we all - and I'm at the head of the queue - will be rapt to see the back of the sub rule.
"Besides the seriousness of the injury, the challenges there - it made planning difficult.
"We were sort of waiting and waiting and waiting and didn’t feel like we could make that sub until we had some clarity there.
"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. It took a long time to work out.
"He was heavily limited from late in that second quarter.
"It’s one of those things where I don’t think you have any choice but to submit yourself to your medical team and just give them the space to do what they need to do.
"The obvious risk there was if we were to sub someone and then we had to sub Cameron, we’d be really limited from there."
Having defeated Brisbane by 38 points in the qualifying final at the same venue three weeks ago, Geelong would have been confident in repeating the performance, but the Lions proved too much to handle in the second half this time around.
"Scores were level at half-time, close enough to level halfway through the third quarter, but it was rare that we thought the game was actually going the way that we wanted," Scott added.
"There were various reasons for that. I'll be thinking about them at 3 am often over the next couple of months."