Fox Footy Jury: AFL greats debate holding the ball, ugly football and Chris Scott’s coaching record
Geelong coach Chris Scott’s win-loss record is unparalleled but he has just one premiership to show for it, which came in his first season. The Fox Footy jury debate his standing in the game.
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Round 6 of the AFL brought up plenty of hot topics, from confusion over the holding the ball rule to coaches shifting blame for ugly football.
Plus, with Geelong coach Chris Scott’s win-loss percentage climbing to 69.23 per cent – the best of any coach to coach more than 80 VFL/AFL games – will he go down as one of the greatest coaches of the modern era?
In his 10th season, Scott has now coached 152 wins and two draws from 221 matches, but his only premiership came in his first season in 2011.
We asked three Fox Footy experts for their verdicts.
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Are you confused by the tightened holding the ball interpretation and has it helped improve football?
CAMERON MOONEY
Three-time premiership player with Geelong and North Melbourne
I’m not confused by it but sometimes the umpires have gone too far. It’s one of the really tough rules and when Alastair Clarkson brought it up, I completely understood where he was coming from. But it’s a really hard rule to interpret at the best of times. I know umpires have the same rule book, but for me with three umpires you’ve got three different interpretations of that rule. Two umpires might go really quick on it and another umpire might let it go – that’s where it gets frustrating. I had no problem tightening up the rule and paying them because it stops us from having stoppages and getting numbers around the ball, but since it’s been talked about we have seen players pick up the ball, get tackled and it’s holding the ball.
ALASTAIR LYNCH
Three-time premiership player with Brisbane
I’m not confused. I think there’s been some mistakes on the new interpretation, but I don’t mind it. They’re certainly paying the free kicks a lot earlier, which is trying to decongest everything. I think it is helping to get the ball moving a bit more quickly. We were getting to the stage in a lot of games where it was just a rolling maul and that allowed more and more people to get in around the ball. But if you pay a free kick, players spread quickly. So I think it’s been good.
BEN DIXON
Former Hawthorn 200-game champion
I’m no clearer on what is holding the ball and what is not. I think if you got five different umpires to watch five different bits of vision and they were line ball on what is holding the ball and what is not, I reckon you would get a mixed bag. There’s no clear-cut direction. I think if you’ve had prior opportunity and you’ve been tackled, it’s an automatic blow of the whistle if you haven’t properly disposed of the ball. Free kick and get the ball moving. We’re getting some sensational tackles, but players are getting too much time to get rid of it.
Were Damien Hardwick and John Longmire right to shift blame, or was Sunday’s ugly game their fault?
CM: At the end of the day it is on the coaches, because they dictate how the game is played more often than not. If you’re Richmond you want to open up the forward line and get extra numbers around the ball. If you’re seeing that from a Sydney point of view, you want to get a number back to try and stop Dusty and Lynch and Riewoldt. But at the end of the day we have ugly games and we have great games. It’s been happening like that for 150 years.
AL: The coaches are to blame, but they’ve got one responsibility and that’s to develop players and a list to win a premiership. They’ve got to choose the best way to go about it. I don’t think we can rely on the coaches to implement attractive game styles. That’s not their responsibility and that’s not going to happen.
BD: It’s been a while since I played hot potato, but there was a bit of hot potato in the coaches’ press conferences on Sunday. Dimma’s of the opinion Richmond wants to move the ball quick and score as quick as they possibly can and they’re one of the best teams at doing that but sometimes Sydney is the Great Wall of China and you can’t get through. They know how to negate a fast-moving team. Some teams are going to play that way because they don’t want to be scored against heavily and you can’t blame them for playing that way because they’re not breaking any rules.
Will Geelong’s Chris Scott, who has an overall win-loss record of just under 70%, go down in history as one of the great modern day coaches?
CM: He’ll no doubt go down as one of the great coaches of Geelong. He’s a premiership coach and he’s held that winning record since he’s walked in. People will say he was given a good list to start with – and he was. But he’s had to work it, he’s had to change that list on a run. To still be able to finish top-four, still make prelims. Yes, it’s disappointing they haven’t won another Grand Final. But if he wins another premiership then no question he’ll go down as one of the great coaches of the modern era.
AL: I think he’s been an outstanding coach over that period to win so many games and put his club in positions to win flags. Chris, I’m sure, would be wishing he’d converted a couple more of those opportunities. But he’s been one of the great modern day coaches and that would be reinforced if the Cats can get another premiership during his tenure. To have that sustained success building and developing a list year after year is pretty incredible.
BD: He won a flag in his first year and you don’t walk into a footy club and win a flag if you don’t have everything that’s going to make up a good coaching resume. He started off on the right foot and he’s continued that. He’s had Geelong up for so long and been so consistent. But I think to be one of the greats you’ve got to win multiple flags and coach at a high percentage. Ultimately when you make the cake, you’ve got to put the icing on, too. I think you’ve got to win a couple of flags, if not three, to be in that category. But Chris is certainly heading in the right direction.
Originally published as Fox Footy Jury: AFL greats debate holding the ball, ugly football and Chris Scott’s coaching record