Certified Legendary Thread 2 x Premiership Coach Chris Scott contracted to 2026 (aka the Chris Scott volumes

[Gazza Greatness]

No many coaches are able to change and re event themselves over such a long period of time.

Going back prior 2022 Chris Scott would often frustrate me with his stubborn gameplan that was not cut out for big finals which appeared at the time to be so glaringly obvious and of course he had this exceedingly poor finals record to support this observation, then come 2022 for reasons I'm still unsure, it thankfully 'all changed' and he has been a revelation ever since. He said in 2022 that he didn't change gameplan prior to 2022 because we didn't have the right cattle to do so, which in fairness to him was partially true but it was also to some degree a cop out because he went into detail back in earlier times saying that controlling the footy was the only way to win big games, he even pointed out figures to back up his claim, of which was certainly the case with the great threepeat Hawks side which was their one wood but it certainly wasn't the case with the Tigers threepeat side which was basically mayhem and chaos, while pushing the football forward at all costs. But alas come 2022 season, the penny dropped and everything changed and he has become a far, far better coach ever since because of it, so kudos to him.

PS - One other comment I'd like to make about Chris and that is over the years I found it very hard to listen to him speak as everything that came out of his mouth sounded rehearsed, 'controlled' and uninspiring but again since 2022 he has been an absolute pleasure to listen to, being far more open, sincere and not robotic in his comments and now has become the 'complete package' when it comes to ALL aspects of being a 'great AFL coach' not that he wasn't a very, very good AFL coach but now he has become a 'great AFL coach', so hats off to you Chris.

 

[iameviljez]

So what started as pick 10 becomes picks 29, 31, 33 and 36 or something like that, and they are junk picks, but they started as pick 10.

No such thing as a junk pick at Geelong

 

[iameviljez]

I was staggered reading some of the stats out of that game on the weekend…. Yet we still not only won the game but even the inside 50 count with 3 of their prime midfielders having the ball nearly 120 times between them and our battlers barely scraping up 20 touches each

Has a lot to do with the amount of time that our prime movers actually spend on the ground.

Bruhn, Parfitt, Bowes and Atkins usually play about 70% of the game. Clark only played 60%. Bont, Libba and Treloar play at least 85% each.

Also, Cameron and Miers push high up the ground to take a reasonable load off the mids.

 

[Warhorse]

Going back prior 2022 Chris Scott would often frustrate me with his stubborn gameplan that was not cut out for big finals which appeared at the time to be so glaringly obvious and of course he had this exceedingly poor finals record to support this observation, then come 2022 for reasons I'm still unsure, it thankfully 'all changed' and he has been a revelation ever since. He said in 2022 that he didn't change gameplan prior to 2022 because we didn't have the right cattle to do so, which in fairness to him was partially true but it was also to some degree a cop out because he went into detail back in earlier times saying that controlling the footy was the only way to win big games, he even pointed out figures to back up his claim, of which was certainly the case with the great threepeat Hawks side which was their one wood but it certainly wasn't the case with the Tigers threepeat side which was basically mayhem and chaos, while pushing the football forward at all costs. But alas come 2022 season, the penny dropped and everything changed and he has become a far, far better coach ever since because of it, so kudos to him.

PS - One other comment I'd like to make about Chris and that is over the years I found it very hard to listen to him speak as everything that came out of his mouth sounded rehearsed, 'controlled' and uninspiring but again since 2022 he has been an absolute pleasure to listen to, being far more open, sincere and not robotic in his comments and now has become the 'complete package' when it comes to ALL aspects of being a 'great AFL coach' not that he wasn't a very, very good AFL coach but now he has become a 'great AFL coach', so hats off to you Chris.

He was not a great development coach and struggled to communicated with the younger players early in his coaching career. He was provided that feedback - he listened, changed and implemented to become much better in that regard. He seems to continually get better and better at coaching.

 

[cats_09]

 

[Mr Meow]

I was staggered reading some of the stats out of that game on the weekend…. Yet we still not only won the game but even the inside 50 count with 3 of their prime midfielders having the ball nearly 120 times between them and our battlers barely scraping up 20 touches each

The lose clearance, win inside 50 count is interesting. It's a common trend for us over the last few seasons to not be dominant in clearance numbers, but to come out on top territory wise.

Do we patrol the half back line and wings really well to stop entries? Do we exit well to stop repeat entries? Or do we just lock it in and create repeat entries for ourselves when attacking? The latter didn't seem to be the case by the eye test in 2023, yet our inside 50 numbers remained oddly strong given our depleted/poor midfield performance.

I have no doubt Scott is near the top of the tree for gaining tactical edge from his personnel, or getting the most out of his team. Sometimes I think it's propped up our ladder position higher than expected, but then things came unstuck in finals.

 

[fpm84]

Incredible quote, as if I couldn't love this man any more.

 

[Mr Meow]

Going back prior 2022 Chris Scott would often frustrate me with his stubborn gameplan that was not cut out for big finals which appeared at the time to be so glaringly obvious and of course he had this exceedingly poor finals record to support this observation, then come 2022 for reasons I'm still unsure, it thankfully 'all changed' and he has been a revelation ever since. He said in 2022 that he didn't change gameplan prior to 2022 because we didn't have the right cattle to do so, which in fairness to him was partially true but it was also to some degree a cop out because he went into detail back in earlier times saying that controlling the footy was the only way to win big games, he even pointed out figures to back up his claim, of which was certainly the case with the great threepeat Hawks side which was their one wood but it certainly wasn't the case with the Tigers threepeat side which was basically mayhem and chaos, while pushing the football forward at all costs. But alas come 2022 season, the penny dropped and everything changed and he has become a far, far better coach ever since because of it, so kudos to him.

PS - One other comment I'd like to make about Chris and that is over the years I found it very hard to listen to him speak as everything that came out of his mouth sounded rehearsed, 'controlled' and uninspiring but again since 2022 he has been an absolute pleasure to listen to, being far more open, sincere and not robotic in his comments and now has become the 'complete package' when it comes to ALL aspects of being a 'great AFL coach' not that he wasn't a very, very good AFL coach but now he has become a 'great AFL coach', so hats off to you Chris.

I do agree with the first part of your post but I think a lot of this was simply due to the dimensions of his teams. And it would've been incredibly difficult to shift that in throughout those years. E.g we didn't have De Koning ready to replace an old KPD until 2022. We couldn't afford to move Duncan to the backline to be a deep lying playmaker. We had terrible small forwards and no second KPF - in other words, a dysfunctional and impotent forward mix under finals heat.

Scott took the handbrake off but only once we had acquired or developed a lot of parts that would allow such a system. It wasn't going to work with Dahlhaus, Menegola, Higgins, Atkins (as a forward), Henderson, Lonergan, Taylor etc. Sure you can blame the coach for the make up of the team being stodgy - maybe we needed to recruit differently - but the 2022 game plan simply wouldn't have worked in previous iterations of his teams. At least the 2014-2020 period.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

I do agree with the first part of your post but I think a lot of this was simply due to the dimensions of his teams. And it would've been incredibly difficult to shift that in throughout those years. E.g we didn't have De Koning ready to replace an old KPD until 2022. We couldn't afford to move Duncan to the backline to be a deep lying playmaker. We had terrible small forwards and no second KPF - in other words, a dysfunctional and impotent forward mix under finals heat.

Scott took the handbrake off but only once we had acquired or developed a lot of parts that would allow such a system. It wasn't going to work with Dahlhaus, Menegola, Higgins, Atkins (as a forward), Henderson, Lonergan, Taylor etc. Sure you can blame the coach for the make up of the team being stodgy - maybe we needed to recruit differently - but the 2022 game plan simply wouldn't have worked in previous iterations of his teams. At least the 2014-2020 period.

Not sure if you recall Mr Meow: but Joel Selwood mentioned during our successful 2022 season that the previous 2021 season, you would have hated to be Miers or Close on the half forward flank/pocket due to the way Geelong played, it was starvation corner for both of them and he was 100% right. I take on board a lot of what you've stated and to be sure there is some merit in what you say Mr Meow: but none the the less I was extremely critical of Chris Scott for a number of years in how he wanted us to play and I can still clearly remember 'many examples' from that period that really angered me as it wasn't conducive to finals football and his very ordinary finals record up until that time supported that view but that's all past now and thankfully from the beginning of the 2022 and onwards there was a major change and he has been an awesome coach ever since and these days I having nothing but the highest of praise for him..... thanks for comments Mr Meow: best regards Richard and GO CATS

 

[PhatBoy]

The lose clearance, win inside 50 count is interesting. It's a common trend for us over the last few seasons to not be dominant in clearance numbers, but to come out on top territory wise.

Do we patrol the half back line and wings really well to stop entries? Do we exit well to stop repeat entries? Or do we just lock it in and create repeat entries for ourselves when attacking? The latter didn't seem to be the case by the eye test in 2023, yet our inside 50 numbers remained oddly strong given our depleted/poor midfield performance.

I have no doubt Scott is near the top of the tree for gaining tactical edge from his personnel, or getting the most out of his team. Sometimes I think it's propped up our ladder position higher than expected, but then things came unstuck in finals.

Clearances I think to some degree are a Kingy myth - yes if you are getting belted it impacts your ability to win but if you are losing them but not by any significant degree I don’t think it really effects your ability to still get the game on your terms as long as you set up well behind the ball and use it well which we almost invariably do at the moment.

The pies lost the clearances in two of their finals last year: in one of those matches they smashed Brisbane in the inside 50 count with a relatively narrow loss in the clearance count, in the other they were smashed by Melbourne in the inside 50s with a narrow loss in the clearance count. There are so many other factors at work and when you have good players in the right spots - and there is no doubt at the moment that our important players aren’t around stoppages - those numbers aren’t going to be as impactful in our matches as they will be in others

 

[Mr Meow]

Not sure if you recall Mr Meow: but Joel Selwood mentioned during our successful 2022 season that the previous 2021 season, you would have hated to be Miers or Close on the half forward flank due to the way Geelong played, it was starvation corner for both of them and he was 100% right. I take on board a lot of what you've stated and to be sure there is some merit in what you say Mr Meow: but none the the less I was extremely critical of Chris Scott for a number of years in how he wanted us to play and I can still clearly remember 'many examples' from that period that really angered me as it wasn't conducive to finals football and his very ordinary finals record up until that time supported that view but that's all past now and thankfully from the beginning of the 2022 and onwards there was a major change and he has been an awesome coach ever since and these days I having nothing but the highest of praise for him..... thanks for comments Mr Meow: best regards Richard and GO CATS

Well I think 2021 was a transition year of sorts. Smith gave us a genuine run-and-gun wingman. Close came in and added something, Cameron was half fit/injured but you could see he still gave us a mobile weapon. Miers was adding the playmaking components to his game. Zuthrie broke out right at the end of the season. So the new formula was starting to brew.

2022: Having Cameron fully fit (back to superstar level), bringing in Stengle and having both Holmes and SDK break out as mobile KPD and wingman respectively - these were all key ingredients to making "take the handbrake off" feasible in my eyes.

Scott then adapted. Could he have done it with the 2019/2020 group and our slow defence, non-descript forward line and slowness on the wings? I'm just not sure.

Cheers Richard!

 

[Mr Meow]

Clearances I think to some degree are a Kingy myth - yes if you are getting belted it impacts your ability to win but if you are losing them but not by any significant degree I don’t think it really effects your ability to still get the game on your terms as long as you set up well behind the ball and use it well which we almost invariably do at the moment.

The pies lost the clearances in two of their finals last year: in one of those matches they smashed Brisbane in the inside 50 count with a relatively narrow loss in the clearance count, in the other they were smashed by Melbourne in the inside 50s with a narrow loss in the clearance count. There are so many other factors at work and when you have good players in the right spots - and there is no doubt at the moment that our important players aren’t around stoppages - those numbers aren’t going to be as impactful in our matches as they will be in others

True and it comes down to quality over quantity. We had a number of finals where it seemed like our midfield were destroyed at stoppages, yet we were ahead or very very close on clearance numbers. Yet the ones we did concede were more often swarming forward in a damaging way, while we had too many scrappy clearances under opposition heat (especially that Richmond side) that a pedestrian forward line couldn't convert to winning scores in finals.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

Well I think 2021 was a transition year of sorts. Smith gave us a genuine run-and-gun wingman. Close came in and added something, Cameron was half fit/injured but you could see he still gave us a mobile weapon. Miers was adding the playmaking components to his game. Zuthrie broke out right at the end of the season. So the new formula was starting to brew.

2022: Having Cameron fully fit (back to superstar level), bringing in Stengle and having both Holmes and SDK break out as mobile KPD and wingman respectively - these were all key ingredients to making "take the handbrake off" feasible in my eyes.

Scott then adapted. Could he have done it with the 2019/2020 group and our slow defence, non-descript forward line and slowness on the wings? I'm just not sure.

Cheers Richard!

I only know Mr Meow: that I have been very critical of Chris at times over the journey and that's being at the ground seeing most games which is fundamentally important as you also see how sides structure up from play to play which often cannot be seen on television. But there are numerous examples of what good coaching is or is not pending who you are playing which I take particular notice but from that very first game in 2022 against the Bombers, Chris and coaching staff really changed the way we played and it's been an absolute pleasure to watch the Cats ever since...... GO CATS !!!

PS - Connor O'Sullivan is going to be a star, what a great selection by Wellsy, Mackie and the boys.... and all 198cm of him, wow wow wow!

 

[Mr Meow]

I only know Mr Meow: that I have been very critical of Chris at times over the journey and that's being at the ground seeing most games which is fundamentally important as you also see how sides structure up from play to play which often cannot be seen on television. But there are numerous examples of what good coaching is or is not pending who you are playing which I take particular notice but from that very first game in 2022 against the Bombers, Chris and coaching staff really changed the way we played and it's been an absolute pleasure to watch the Cats ever since...... GO CATS !!!

PS - Connor O'Sullivan is going to be a star, what a great selection by Wellsy, Mackie and the boys.... and all 198cm of him, wow wow wow!

Me too, I was on the fence with Scott for a while and it was hard not to be after so many finals heartbreaks. Particularly the ones where we just got blitzed in a specific quarter and looked to have no legs, no hunger to attack, no ideas. With the benefit of hindsight, he probably would've jagged one of the 2019/2020 flags if not for a great Richmond side. 2013 was a blown chance but it was still early days for him. 2014-2018 I just don't think the team was good enough, even with a great top end of players holding us up. But I agree to a degree gameplan issues held us back in finals and it becomes a chicken/egg story of "did we need players X, Y and Z to come in" or "could we have been more daring previously". The past few years it's hard not to be impressed by Scott, who gets better with age.

Agree about O'Sullivan. He will be a force, I reckon.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

Me too, I was on the fence with Scott for a while and it was hard not to be after so many finals heartbreaks. Particularly the ones where we just got blitzed in a specific quarter and looked to have no legs, no hunger to attack, no ideas. With the benefit of hindsight, he probably would've jagged one of the 2019/2020 flags if not for a great Richmond side. 2013 was a blown chance but it was still early days for him. 2014-2018 I just don't think the team was good enough, even with a great top end of players holding us up. But I agree to a degree gameplan issues held us back in finals and it becomes a chicken/egg story of "did we need players X, Y and Z to come in" or "could we have been more daring previously". The past few years it's hard not to be impressed by Scott, who gets better with age.

Agree about O'Sullivan. He will be a force, I reckon.

As human-beings that's all we can do is try to better ourselves with age, especially when it comes to past mistakes or indiscretions, then to be man or woman big enough to see our faults and to better ourselves, this is where Chris has been a real standout and to why I now admire so much but not just as a great AFL coach but also human-being...... Chris has grown into a wonderful person in so many ways!

Mr Meow: I'm so much on a high with our young collective group at present, Connor O'Sullivan included as it's the best youth since 2003 which I've commented elsewhere. There's just something really very special about having a wonderful group of young players coming through all at the same time.

Seriously Mr Meow, Wellsy deserves a statue just outside our main entrance to stadium once he has finished his journey with the Cats for what he accomplished over the past 20 years has been nothing short of phenomenal.

 

[PhatBoy]

2013 was a blown chance and will always be one that got away but two things help me be fairly sanguine about it:

1. It was one of the great teams that beat us
2. It took a colossal effort for them to do it. We fought them to a standstill in that prelim and it took them until the dying stages of the final quarter to get us. If they had have blown us away or come out after half time and put us to the sword it would have been harder to take but it wasn’t that sort of game, it had more back and forth than most prelims and was a titanic struggle. Full credit to them for winning it in the end but they had to earn every bit of it

 

[Mr Meow]

2013 was a blown chance and will always be one that got away but two things help me be fairly sanguine about it:

1. It was one of the great teams that beat us
2. It took a colossal effort for them to do it. We fought them to a standstill in that prelim and it took them until the dying stages of the final quarter to get us. If they had have blown us away or come out after half time and put us to the sword it would have been harder to take but it wasn’t that sort of game, it had more back and forth than most prelims and was a titanic struggle. Full credit to them for winning it in the end but they had to earn every bit of it

True, true.

I'm talking more about the QF. If we won that and were fresh in a grand final against Hawthorn with Chapman and Enright available, I think we'd have continued the Kennett curse to bring it full circle from 2008.

Or just having Enright for the prelim. We brought Hunt in and he was terrible. We had to reshuffle the defence and a few Hawks such as Gunston got off the chain.

Ah well.

 

[PhatBoy]

True, true.

I'm talking more about the QF. If we won that and were fresh in a grand final against Hawthorn with Chapman and Enright available, I think we'd have continued the Kennett curse to bring it full circle from 2008.

Or just having Enright for the prelim. We brought Hunt in and he was terrible. We had to reshuffle the defence and a few Hawks such as Gunston got off the chain.

Ah well.

Yeah that’s a fair point actually I often forget about those two missing

 

[Gazza Greatness]

2013 was a blown chance and will always be one that got away but two things help me be fairly sanguine about it:

1. It was one of the great teams that beat us
2. It took a colossal effort for them to do it. We fought them to a standstill in that prelim and it took them until the dying stages of the final quarter to get us. If they had have blown us away or come out after half time and put us to the sword it would have been harder to take but it wasn’t that sort of game, it had more back and forth than most prelims and was a titanic struggle. Full credit to them for winning it in the end but they had to earn every bit of it

PhatBoy:.... Pau Chapman said something to the effect after us losing the 2008 Grand Final that we gifted to The Hawks, that we'd never lose another game of footy against The Hawks as long as he was in the side and such was our dominance of continually beating The Hawks game after game, year after year after that infamous 2008 Grand Final loss, that it wasn't until the 2013 prelim. final that they actually beat the Cats.

But the thing is PhatBoy: that Paul Chapman was suspended for one week in the previous weeks final against Port Adelaide and accordingly could not play against The Hawks in that 'huge' Prelim. Final (Enright was also out injured). At the time so many of the Hawks faithful were beside themselves because not only was Chappy a great player but he was always one of the best on the ground during that 11 match winning streak against The Hawks as the infamous 'Kennett's CURSE' had virtually MUTED The Hawks to never beating Geelong again. Suffice to say that Chappy playing for Geelong never did play in a losing side to Hawks after that 2008 Grand Final loss.

PS - The infamous 'Kennett's CURSE' - After Kennett made those disparaging remarks from the 2008 Grand final against The Cats for being mentally weaker than The Hawks in big games against them, I promised my 3 adult kids who I've been taking to the footy ever since they were very young, that for every game 'we beat' The Hawks after 2008 Grand Final that I'd buy them KFC on the way home from the footy, with the KFC being the one just before entering Westgate Bridge coming from MCG to go home, with ALL games against The Hawks played at the 'G'. Little did any of us know at time that we'd consecutively win the next 11 games against The 'Mighty' Hawks which the kids were 'over the moon' with.

And by the way PhatBoy: to complete this story I'll finalise by saying that with me and the 3 kids we would with 'great delight' always look forward to going to KFC after beating The Hawks for ALL of those 11 consecutive wins and we'd yell out straight after game, let's go to KFC of which KFC stood for........ KENNETT'S F**KING CURSE !!!

WIKI comments below -

Geelong will have to do without the services of Paul Chapman in Friday's preliminary final against Hawthorn, after the Cats' forward accepted a one-match ban for rough conduct. Chapman was charged for a bump he laid on Port Adelaide's Robbie Gray during last Friday night's final at the MCG

The Cats defeated Alastair Clarkson's men 11 times in a row from 2009 until the 2013 preliminary final, where the Hawks fought back from 19 points down in the last quarter to seal a spot in that year's Grand Final.

 

[catempire]

Incredible quote, as if I couldn't love this man any more.

4D chess

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Incredible quote, as if I couldn't love this man any more.

He's closing in on being the perfect coach.

We talk a lot about player development, but coaching development is real too. Scott has grown so much since being appointed.

Tactically he's one of the best in the game, if not the best.

The players don't have a bad word to say about him these days, and it's clear that a even a phone call with Scotty is enough to get a player over the line at trade week (See Stanley's interview), such is the respect he holds in the game.

As a media performer, you compare him to Bevo (who's looking more schizophrenic by the week) and Clarko/Dimma, who can't go a week without embarrassing themselves, and we genuinely couldn't have it any better IMO.

He's like Bill Belichick, but the players actually like him. It's the perfect situation.

I wouldn't trade Scotty for anybody these days. He's the best by a wide margin.

 

[catters05]

PhatBoy:.... Pau Chapman said something to the effect after us losing the 2008 Grand Final that we gifted to The Hawks, that we'd never lose another game of footy against The Hawks as long as he was in the side and such was our dominance of continually beating The Hawks game after game, year after year after that infamous 2008 Grand Final loss, that it wasn't until the 2013 prelim. final that they actually beat the Cats.

But the thing is PhatBoy: that Paul Chapman was suspended for one week in the previous weeks final against Port Adelaide and accordingly could not play against The Hawks in that 'huge' Prelim. Final (Enright was also out injured). At the time so many of the Hawks faithful were beside themselves because not only was Chappy a great player but he was always one of the best on the ground during that 11 match winning streak against The Hawks as the infamous 'Kennett's CURSE' had virtually MUTED The Hawks to never beating Geelong again. Suffice to say that Chappy playing for Geelong never did play in a losing side to Hawks after that 2008 Grand Final loss.

PS - The infamous 'Kennett's CURSE' - After Kennett made those disparaging remarks from the 2008 Grand final against The Cats for being mentally weaker than The Hawks in big games against them, I promised my 3 adult kids who I've been taking to the footy ever since they were very young, that for every game 'we beat' The Hawks after 2008 Grand Final that I'd buy them KFC on the way home from the footy, with the KFC being the one just before entering Westgate Bridge coming from MCG to go home, with ALL games against The Hawks played at the 'G'. Little did any of us know at time that we'd consecutively win the next 11 games against The 'Mighty' Hawks which the kids were 'over the moon' with.

And by the way PhatBoy: to complete this story I'll finalise by saying that with me and the 3 kids we would with 'great delight' always look forward to going to KFC after beating The Hawks for ALL of those 11 consecutive wins and we'd yell out straight after game, let's go to KFC of which KFC stood for........ KENNETT'S F**KING CURSE !!!

WIKI comments below -

Geelong will have to do without the services of Paul Chapman in Friday's preliminary final against Hawthorn, after the Cats' forward accepted a one-match ban for rough conduct. Chapman was charged for a bump he laid on Port Adelaide's Robbie Gray during last Friday night's final at the MCG

The Cats defeated Alastair Clarkson's men 11 times in a row from 2009 until the 2013 preliminary final, where the Hawks fought back from 19 points down in the last quarter to seal a spot in that year's Grand Final.

Was a crap suspension as well.

 

[Mr Meow]

Was a crap suspension as well.

Full strength sides in the 2013 and 2019 prelim would've netted one, if not two more flags.

But then maybe we don't win 2022, who knows.

Still...one sign of a great coach is getting a side in a position to genuinely contend for a flag over and over (of course you need to seal the deal too). We can't really complain on that front.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Best.
Coach.
In.
The.
Game.

 

[catempire]

What a clinic.

So faced with a season with a gun forward line and very strong defence but a thin midfield he decides to turn weakness into strength. He rolls through 7-8 mids to share the workload and wears down the opposition who lean heavily on 3-4.