AFL champion apologises after awkwardly snubbing kid during Grand Final celebrations

It made for awkward scenes at the time, but AFL star Tom Stewart has definitely redeemed himself by publicly apologising to a young Geelong Cats fan for snubbing her handshake after the Grand Final.

Yes, it was a total accident with Stewart clearly not seeing the little girl, but he still wanted to personally reach out to her.

Respect.

The Geelong Cats had just thrashed the Sydney Swans by 81 points in the AFL Grand Final when their post-match celebration began.

In recent years, it has become tradition for the Auskicker of the Year nominees to present the Premiership medals to the players in front of a packed-out Melbourne Cricket Ground.

So when four-time All-Australian defender Stewart made his way onto the podium to receive his medal, he was greeted by an excited young fan.

But as the girl wrapped the medal round Stewart's neck, he quickly stood up and cheered to the crowd, completely missing her extended arm hoping for a handshake.

To make matters worse, he also accidentally knocked the girls cap off her head while cheering the supporters.

Clearly buzzing with his team's flawless Grand Final victory, Stewart was completely unaware of what he'd done at the time – until he probably checked his tags on social media.

Speaking on Nine's Sports Sunday the morning after the big game, Stewart reached out to the fan.

"I want to reach out to the young girl who gave me my premiership medal," he said.

"I got a bit overwhelmed and a bit excited and ended up knocking her hat off her head.

"I'd love to get in contact with her and give her a little gift, so if anybody knows her and would like to reach out to me on my socials I'd really appreciate it."

Classy stuff.

When it happened, though, fans wasted no time in piling into the Cats star via social media.