SCOTT SAYS GEELONG CAN CLOSE THE GAP
With a little luck and improvement Cats are more than capable of being top dogs
THERE are Cats fans who were not born when Geelong entered premiership contention in 2004 but who will be holding a driver’s licence this year as an unprecedented, essentially unbroken run of 18 years as a flag contender carries on.
Entering 2022, Geelong again sees itself among the top echelon of sides that can win it all.
In modern football, perhaps only Sydney’s run under Paul Roos and now John Longmire can match Mark Thompson and Chris Scott’s effort for almost two decades.
If it has worked for 18 years and the Cats seem to be only picking up steam in recruiting homesick stars, there is no reason it cannot carry on, right?
That question of long-term contention is not one that bothers Scott, who remains steadfast in getting his team back in a position to win it all in September.
“It is a better question aimed at our list manager (Andrew Mackie),” the coach said.
“I don’t think in 2004 anyone would have expected the consistency Geelong has had. That was fanciful back then and would be fanciful now.
“With every year that goes by, the AFL pushes harder and harder with equality by handicapping the good performers, so I suspect it is going to get harder, not easier.
“I’m not sure it is a relevant question to try to predict whether it is sustainable.”
The second half of this 18-year run has not borne any fruit for Geelong and the trophy cabinet that faces out from the club’s Premiership Stand at Kardinia Park has not changed since 2011.
But the men in hoops are always in the running, even if that leaves fans frustrated at another close shave in the final two weeks of the year.
Many fans would rather scrap this consistent run at finals for another premiership or two – and Scott would, too – but you cannot win it unless you are in it.
Having felt that heat of the spotlight of falling short over and over in the past decade, Scott would happily do it all again instead of deliberately rebuilding in the hope of another rise.
“We would prefer to put ourselves on the line a bit and embrace the scrutiny that goes with putting ourselves on the line a bit,” he said.
“That can be misinterpreted as you are not focusing enough on the future. At least historically we have a pretty good record of showing that we have the future in mind.
“It was put to me that in 2010 when I first came in that our plan, and we thought it was optimistic at the time, was to contend and put ourselves in a good position in as many years as possible.
“If I had have said this is what the next 10 years would look like, they wouldn’t have given me the job because I was too optimistic.
“The teams that Geelong was competing with in ’07 and ’08 have been on a huge rollercoaster.
“It is too simplistic an argument to say, ‘would you prefer this or that’. Would you prefer to miss the finals for five years but win two (more) flags?
“Yeah, I would. But what is the point of trying to rewrite history that way?”
So Scott and his Cats will be back again in 2022, chasing Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs to be top dog.
With an ageing list, commentators and some in the media are sceptical that the Cats’ premiership window may have closed. But Scott believes the club is closer to a premiership than the 83-point preliminary loss to the Demons last year might suggest.
Scott believes a little bit of luck and improvement from even those at the top of that ageing list can close that gap.
“We don’t want to look back too far but we can point to some unlucky issues that we had over recent years that if we rectify will make us better pretty much overnight,” he said.
“The key part for us is that we get some organic growth with the players who have still got seven or eight years to play with us.
“Jack Henry finished second in our best-and-fairest (last year), Brandan Parfitt, we think, can be a really good player.
“At the other end, our experienced players, we put a lot of work into complementing our strategy by managing our more experienced players really well.
“We can’t see any reason why the vast majority of them can’t have close to career seasons, so that is what we need to happen to win the premiership this year.
“There are a few single points of failure there but I don’t think that is any different to any other teams.”
GAME IN GREAT SHAPE
WITH his salt-and-pepper beard and sometimes prickly nature with the media, Scott does not always appear to be having a good time at work.
Eyebrows were raised in the industry last year when he declared “coaching is not a very good job”, but as he enters his 28th consecutive season as a player with the Brisbane Bears and Lions, or coach, first as an assistant with Fremantle and then at Geelong, he still loves footy.
Many coaches find it impossible to switch off and watch a game of footy in the stands or on the couch as a neutral.
For Scott though, he can hardly think of a better time than taking the kids to a heaving game of Friday night footy.
“I think the game is in terrific shape, I love watching it,” he said.
“From the fan perspective, I just love watching without analysing too much.
“That only takes up a small part of my week, but we have missed the idea of taking your kids to a Friday night game of footy. It is hard to beat.
“That is why I think our game has such a big advantage over others that are more TV-based, because while watching on TV is great, there is no greater spectacle in my opinion than live sport.”
When he switches to work mode, Scott says he “can be so energised each day and bounce into work” day after day.
So despite the job being “not a very good” one, he loves to coach.
Yet he is adamant his life is not only football, football, football.
He likes to have a hit of golf when he can and described himself as curious, having sat glued to a recent Netflix documentary on Kanye West.
With a two-year extension all-but completed, Scott will be a coach for some time yet, despite insisting he is not a “career coach”.
But coaching is not everything. “I am really grateful for the opportunity footy has given me, but I am also curious about what the real world is like outside of it," he said.
“The level of selfishness required to do the job really well at different stages of the year, for somewhere between 25-30 years, that compounds.
“And at some point I have to make up for that selfishness in other parts of my life.”
Asked what he would do with a spare Saturday, free from footy, Scott wasted no time on his answer.
“It’s a horribly boring answer, but hopefully it would be time with my family, doing something they enjoy,” he said.
“I haven’t been bored for 25 years, so if there is less excitement in my life on a spare Saturday, I am good with that.”
Boredom has not been an emotion linked with Geelong over Scott’s 261game coaching career at Kardinia Park. With his eyes firmly planted on a premiership yet again, do not expect that to change any time soon.