Although at times I may get caught in the heat of the moment after a Geelong loss and will more often than not call for Scott's head, I do not believe he has had the personnel to prove his coaching potential in his tenure so far. We saw what happened in 2011, though hindsight says that he was riding on Bomber's coat tails. Since 2011, our list has seen massive structural changes, with a grand total of 8 players from our 2011 premiership team remaining in our squad. These are Lonergan, Enright, Taylor, Selwood, Bartel, Mackie, Hawkins and Duncan, the majority of whom are aged, past their prime and have been for a while now (though still decent, serviceable players nonetheless). Exits this year were Kelly, Stokes and Johnson: replacing players of their calibre is not as easy as it seems. A problem that many a Cats supporter seem to have is their indifference towards change. Yes, a certain amount of trust and faith is invested in the foundations of arguably the greatest Geelong team ever (Cook, Wells and Co.) however having succeeded previously does not correlate with success being replicated. The likelihood of us finding direct replacements for the likes of Ablett, Scarlett, Corey, Ottens, Chappy, Bartel, Johnson et al is tale-like. I doubt we will again see a Cats team so impressive, not only on paper but in team cohesion. Which is why I find it illogical and, frankly, unreasonable when supporters expect
*players sidelined during Geelong's period of success and our failed pursuits of success (2012-2014) to come into the side and dominate statistics in the A grade; this is not a blight on their talent or potential, but it is a decisive factor in their output to date.
*Chris Scott to emulate Bomber's dynasty; if this fails, he is directly responsible for Geelong sustaining top 4/top 8 finishes. Anything short of that is considered a spite on his coaching abilities, though our entire list has been all but completely overturned in rebuild. It was not a simple transition either. Players did not retire simultaneously, some of our younguns were sidelined a lot longer than they should have been and to ignore the fact that we have been particularly susceptible to injuries over the past few years is ignorance at its finest. For those who love to compare our current side and coaching staff to that of 07-11, take into account the lack of fanfare for our players and staff from 1999-2006. At that stage, none had the laudability they would eventually earn had it not been for persistence.
Scott has a very high bar set for him, and I refuse to put a line through him just yet. I won't claim that we will reach the heights of our 2007-2011 era again, however, traditionally persistence has paid off at Geelong. Something must have been seen in Scott for the club to remain faithful to him, something that perhaps we can't see yet or may well never be qualified to see. To remain a flag threat, bar an injury-plagued 2015, in the midst of a rebuild is already promising for me, and it would seem the GFC reserve similar judgement.