By Sam McClure
In his 15 seasons as coach, players who have been there for the majority of Chris Scott’s tenure can remember him raising his voice twice.
Both were against Essendon. One was during a rare loss in 2017 and the other, during a 95-point win over the Bombers in round 15 at the MCG. Players can’t even remember what the spray was about, but the fact the volume of his voice went up was so rare that it stuck in their memories.
Chris Scott’s Cats are well placed in their bid for another crack at the premiership.Credit: Getty Images
Twice in 15 years.
For some coaches, the image they portray in the media can be entirely different to the man players and staff see behind closed doors.
But for Scott, he’s the same behind the scenes as he is in front of the cameras. Authenticity is one of the three themes which have emerged when speaking to players, staff and former teammates of the two-time premiership Lion turned two-time premiership coach.
His ability to disconnect is another.
When Portuguese manager José Mourinho arrived at English Premier League club Chelsea in June 2004, he told players he would be their coach, mentor, father, friend and confidant.
He went out of his way to meet and understand each player’s family, their parents, wives, girlfriends, children, even pets.
Scott is the antithesis of Mourinho.
When new players arrive at Geelong, the boundaries of their relationship with their new coach are clear – he’s there to coach. He is not there to be their friend, their sounding board for personal problems or their drinking buddy. He is there to coach them to play football.
He lets people be who they want to be away from the club. But when they’re there, they’re expected to work as hard and as efficiently as possible.
It’s what makes him, in coaching circles, a modern-day great.
“To end up with is win/loss ratio of high 60s is just remarkable,” his Lions coach Leigh Matthews told this masthead.
“That stands out in the history of the game.”
That’s high praise from a man who doesn’t often offer it up. With four premierships, Matthews is considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.
Across 20 years and 461 games, Matthews finished his coaching career with a winning percentage of 58.8.
Scott, who is five seasons and 105 games behind, sits at 68.4 per cent. A win against Richmond on Saturday will mean the Cats finish in the top two, earning the inside running for another grand final berth.
Remarkably, in the age of equalisation, the Cats are gunning for an 11th top-four finish of Scott’s 15-year tenure, and have missed the finals just twice.
The 2022 premiership was the crowning glory of Chris Scott’s coaching career, but his team still seems hungry for success.Credit: AFL Photos
Matthews, who coached Scott to two flags at Brisbane, still speaks to his former player a handful of times a year.
“What you see is what you get with Chris. He is a very capable person, I have a lot of respect and a lot of time for him. The thing with Chris is; he has the intellect to be good at whatever he does, to be honest.”
Scott’s disconnected approach works, according to his players, because of the third theme they all cite about the coach: his unwavering and unconditional loyalty.
No matter the circumstances and however one-sided a situation feels, players at Geelong continue to be overwhelmed by how far Scott will go to defend them.
And you needn’t look any further back than Bailey Smith for a real-life example of Scott’s unqualified love.
In May this year, the star recruit found himself in hot water (again) for discussing drug use on social media; comments which drew the ire of the AFL.
When many coaches may have simply condemned the comments for the promotion of nefarious behaviour, Scott attacked the issue from a different angle.
“My take on it, not just in the footy world but in society, [is] you can’t have it both ways,” Scott said on the ABC.
“If you are going to embrace this idea that the new world is sharing everything online and bantering and having a bit of fun, but as soon as it goes over the line we all have conniptions.
“We all like comics that are on edge, but as soon as they say something that is confronting to someone’s sensibility, we want to cancel them.
“I just think that’s a loss of perspective, and with Bailey, remember he is 23.”
Often what Scott doesn’t say is as important as what he does in times like this. The coach and his right-hand man Andrew Mackie knew exactly what they were getting into when they went down the path of recruiting Smith. They both identified and understood the risks and potential pitfalls of a player with Smith’s history.
Bailey Smith has thrived in his first season at Geelong.Credit: AFL Photos
“I would much rather guys that are a little bit edgy but are really driven and competitive, as opposed to the straighty-180s who struggle a little bit more when the heat is really on,” he continued.
“I think it’s an example of that edginess.”
For Smith, a player whose off-field antics were often criticised and critiqued by his former employer, the Western Bulldogs, Scott’s ferocious defence of him was an olive branch, a helping hand and an expression of love. Smith has gone from an underperforming “bad boy” to a favourite for the Brownlow Medal.
Scott was similarly supportive of forward Tyson Stengle, another recruit who arrived at Geelong after a chequered off-field record at a previous club.
Stengle spent several hours in hospital after he collapsed in a Geelong nightclub in June last year, hours after playing a starring role in a win over North Melbourne in Hobart.
Six days later, Scott was non-apologetically pragmatic about the situation. Instead of judging the player for his poor behaviour, he publicly threw his support behind Stengle.
“First and foremost, we think about the wellbeing of our players,” Scott said
“Yes, we’ve got a role to help educate them, but we don’t treat them like kids, and we certainly don’t take a punitive approach where we are seeking to punish every little misstep.
“It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t a huge issue either in our minds.
“It was one of those things that’s going to happen every now and again, and we feel in a really good place to perform well this weekend.”
In that media conference, Scott was quizzed by a reporter as to whether he was too defensive of his players.
“That is part of our role; to help them as much as we can and defend them when it’s required,” he said.
Tyson Stengle is another Cat who’s benefitted from the support of his coach.Credit: AFL Photos
“I’m not sure whether it’s the old days – I hope it is – but this idea of the public flaying is just not the way we do things and not something we’re interested in.”
Scott understands that each player requires a unique approach from him as a coach. They are all held to the same standards, but in different ways.
“Treating people as individuals is more new-school,” Matthews said as he reflected on his own stellar coaching career.
“Back in the day … most coaches wouldn’t be like that. You have to remember, this is the full-time era where players are at the club during the day.
“The thing that has changed the most with training and playing is that individuals are being treated very differently to what they were a couple of generations ago.”
If, in fact, Scott and his Cats are able to salute and win the premiership for the third time in 15 years, Scott will propel himself into rarefied air within coaching ranks.
So where does it put him, compared to some of the all-time greats?
“I’ll let you decide for yourself,” Matthews said. A strong leader and a humble one; just like his protege.
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