Sydney and Brisbane asked the AFL to allow injured stars Callum Mills and Oscar McInerney to sit on the bench with key football staff during Saturday’s grand final.

The pair are the heartbreak stories of the 2024 grand final with Mills unable to captain the Swans after failing to recover from a hamstring injury and McInerney ruled out with a dislocated shoulder suffered during the preliminary final.

The Lions and Swans wanted their experience on the bench to be able to speak to players during games.

Both clubs’ requests were approved by the AFL on Friday.

Acting Swans captain Dane Rampe said taking over from Mills as skipper for a huge occasion like a grand final was tough to accept.

“Bittersweet is exactly the word,” Rampe said.

“First of all, I am shattered for a mate. He’s one of my great mates and leaders of our club. We’ve been through a lot together. Me and him had a cry after the news on Wednesday afternoon.”

The Swans have taken risks with injured players in other grand finals but they weren’t prepared to take Mills into the game knowing he hasn’t spent the full 21 days recovering from his hamstring injury.

Coach John Longmire said it was a tough call to make.

“It’s tough. You’ve got to make decisions,” he said.

“You sit down as a group with medical and conditioning staff and go through everything. You talk about it and then you’ve got to deliver the message.

“It’s tough because Callum is a great person and a great leader of our footy club but he also understands that decisions need to be made and then jobs need to be done after that.”

“He was disappointed. That’s what happens sometimes. When we weighed it all up, the risks going into a game like this seemed to go against Callum even though he trained well.”