Following Geelong's preliminary final triumph over Brisbane on Friday, Cats coach Chris Scott has applauded the meteoric rise of Tyson Stengle from football's periphery to a key piece of artillery in the competitions benchmark forward line, saying the credit must go to the 23 year-old for rebuilding his career.
After short stints at Richmond and Adelaide, Stengle's time in the AFL looked over when he was shown the door by the Crows at ahead of the 2021 season following a string off-field indiscretions including a drug-related incident.
Just 18 months later the small-forward has paid back the Cat's punt on him in spades.
Turning the dial up on strong SANFL form, where he played with Woodville-West Torrens through 2021, Stengle heads into grand final week with a maiden All-Australian nomination, 49 goals and a blistering preliminary final performance under his belt in what has proved one of the great stories out of the season.
Tyson Stengle celebrates during Geelong's win over Brisbane, Friday Sept 16. image: Tamati Smith
Following their win Friday night Scott said bringing Stengle to the club was about as much about rebuilding his life as it was about his football.
"The credit should go to Tyson, let's be clear on that," Scott said.
"That was a multi-year process to make sure that we could give him an opportunity to revitalise his football career.
"If it didn't work out for him, we would have done everything we could to make sure that his life was better for having been at Geelong.
"Tyson's a great story, I'm really happy for him."
The Geelong coach said the rise comes thanks to a team of people who "should be proud" of their role Stengle's development, including fellow former Crow Eddie Betts.
Betts joined the club's coaching staff ahead of the 2022 season, quickly becoming a mentor to their new weapon up front.
The pair embraced following Stengle's 3.0 effort to sink the Lions on the MCG to move into next weeks premiership decider in the driver's seat.
Geelong face the winner of Sydney's clash with Collingwood Saturday afternoon in the grand final next week.
