Inside the tactics and magnet moves that keep Geelong in premiership contention

In 15 years as Geelong coach, Chris Scott has become one of the sharpest tactical masterminds of the modern era. We pull back the curtains to see how he really does it.

Where most of us see footy in the present, Chris Scott is usually looking one step ahead.

Former best-and-fairest winning Geelong player Brenton Sanderson coached with Scott for most of 2011 as an assistant and then against him as Adelaide senior coach, and he felt a game against Scott and the Cats was like chess.

Even if you make a move, it might have already been worked out.

“He is the master of staying ahead of the curve. What I mean by that, he has a brilliant footy mind in the sense he has probably thought of the way the game is going and has the dare and creativity to do different things,” Sanderson said.

“I think the way he uses players in different roles, the way he creates that extra number behind the ball, the way he uses high half-forwards, a lot of those things were Chris Scott ideas and now the industry is trying to replicate them.

“He is really challenging and it is sort of like a game of chess when you coach against him. You will make a move and he has countered it before you have even made it.

“He is one that you have to be on your toes and have someone in your box not just looking at the ball but behind the ball, in front of the ball, to see what they are doing differently.”

The Cats have all the tricks to keep their premiership rivals guessing.

The Geelong coach has never been afraid to throw his magnets around and search for an advantage.

Scott has long been a coach that builds his team around the strengths of his players, rather than forcing them to fit within his system.

Captain Patrick Dangerfield is thriving in a new role playing predominantly forward and he knows more than anyone how the Cats make the most of their advantages.

“I think what we do really well as a team is we put certain players in certain positions to play to their strengths and that’s always been a hallmark of Chris’ as a coach. He is a strength based coach,” Dangerfield told ABC Sport.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae entered last weekend’s match knowing Scott “plays a lot of games”.

But his preparation couldn’t stop a dominant Dangerfield, Ollie Dempsey’s sneak wing attack, the still unsolved Mark Blicavs puzzle, Bailey Smith’s roadrunning efforts and even an Irish tagger in a round 8 thriller.

These are those weapons that are still tying opponents in knots.

THE DEMPSEY SNEAK

In Champion Data’s deep records, Ollie Dempsey’s 13 goals this season is the most ever for a winger after eight matches.

No player in the game now is better at charging forward from the fat side of the field, getting ahead of his man, and kicking easy goals.

Of the 13 majors Dempsey has kicked, only two have come from more than 15m from goal, as he slips down his wing over and over.

While other runners may be able to keep up with Dempsey, the rising star winner can play like a tall forward and take a big mark above them, just ask Steele Sidebottom, creating a mismatch in the forward goalsquare.

“They have a unique skillet with their playing group where they have talls that are great runners and smalls that are great aerial players,” Sanderson said.

Only Jeremy Cameron (18) and Patrick Dangerfield (16) have more goals for the Cats this year than Dempsey.

He is given a licence by Scott and the coaches to fly at will, and midfield coach Steven King allows the springy youngster to play to his strengths.

Sanderson said the Cats forward runners – like Gryan Miers, Brad Close and Jeremy Cameron – often push high up the field, leaving space behind for Dempsey to slot into.

THE DANGER CARD

It’s possible Patrick Dangerfield is currently Geelong’s best forward and its best option in centre bounces.

It’s a trump card few coaches can play.

Geelong is a poor centre bounce team this year, with a differential of -2 on the season.

But it is excellent when the skipper is in the middle, having won 37 and lost 24 centre clearances he has been part of so far this season.

That differential with Dangerfield is +13.

Yet the Cats mostly hold Dangerfield in attack these days, given his power in the forward-50.

He has gathered 21 groundball and 32 contested possessions in the forward-50 this year, ranked second in the league in both stats behind Bulldog Rhylee West.

Only Sam Darcy rising like a giant for a mark can match Dangerfield putting his head over a loose ball as the most threatening sight to defences this year.

Patrick Dangerfield's forward class

Sanderson coached Dangerfield to the first two of his record-equalling eight All-Australian selections all the way back in 2012-13 when at Adelaide and he marvelled that the 35-year-old was still winning games off his own boot.

“His is one in a generation really,” Sanderson said.

“The fact he still plays one of the most contested styles, really combative. He is not an outside player, he doesn’t avoid contact. He is in and under all the time. He will go down as one of this generation’s greatest players.”

Dangerfield largely gets to pick when he wants to move up to a centre bounce and, with the coaches, it is a big lever the Cats can pull at almost any time.

During his 13 disposal final term to just pip the Pies, the skipper was just focused on getting into the play over and over.

“That was sort of running through my head more often than not, ‘Are you in a position that is dangerous to be in, puts yourself within the play and makes the opposition feel nervous?’,” he told ABC Sport.

Marl Blicavs goal vs Collingwood

BLITZ BEWILDERMENT

The poster boy for Geelong’s ability to shuffle roles whenever needed, it’s been 277 games since Mark Blicavs started his AFL career as a utility the game hasn’t seen before, and he is still confusing opposition coaches.

He started this season largely in defence but with Rhys Stanley’s return to the side pushing Sam De Koning back, Blicavs has spent more time back around the ball.

So far this year, he has spent 44 per cent of his gametime in defence, 28 per cent on the wing and 27 per cent in the ruck.

Sanderson said the veteran Cat was a key in Scott’s ability to shuffle the deck all the time to add more confusion to opposition coaching boxes, creating loose defenders and mismatches.

“The way they use Blicavs in the ruck, on ball, on the wing, as a defender, they just keep shuffling so every centre bounce is a different set up,” he said.

“They always feel like they have a seventh defender and typically that comes from a wingman, but then the wingers are always playing different roles.

“Almost every player on their list has the ability to play a different role, it is one of their great strengths.”

As usual, the Cats use Blicavs to stretch opponents.

This year, Stanley has popped forward at times, dragging his main ruck opponent with him, which then forces the ruck to sprint to get back for a stoppage, or let Blicavs take on an inexperienced opponent at a ball up.

This came to a head at a crucial time in the Easter Monday thriller against Hawthorn, when Stanley dragged Hawk Lloyd Meek all the way to centre half-back, leaving Blicavs as the solo ruck for a ball up deep in defence.

Blicavs then simply grabbed the ball and cleared defence.

Last week against Collingwood, Blicavs was playing on the wing when the Cats swept the ball down the wing in the first term to find Blicavs all alone in the goalsquare.

The adaptable Cat is pushing forward more than in previous years – he has kicked five goals in seven games this year, equal to his tally all of last year.

A DASH OF BAILEY

Thousands of words have been written about Bailey Smith this year, but perhaps not enough about how his running capability has helped the Cats.

Max Holmes had to hold the run-and-carry torch alone in Geelong’s midfield last year, but Smith has taken it to another level and the Cats give it to him whenever they can, with Smith leading the club on 12.4 handball receives per game.

With that Sherrin in hand, he is averaging 648.9 metres gained each game, 60m more than the league’s second best, Lion Dayne Zorko.

That’s thanks to his run, his ability to get the hair flowing, the knees pumping and the ball moving has helped transform Geelong’s transition game.

Take one example from Saturday’s win over Collingwood.

With just over six minutes to play in what had been a tiring game, Max Holmes kicked out from full back, with Smith the second-closest teammate to Holmes when he kicked the ball out.

Smith started the play alongside Nick Daicos and with four Magpies in the contest 30m in front.

Bailey Smith goal

When Patrick Dangerfield won a contest on the wing, Smith took off, completely burning Daicos and three other Pies, to get involved in the play.

He collected a handball receive and kicked the ball long from 60m out, giving Shannon Neale a golden opportunity to either body off Pie Billy Frampton and mark or let the ball sail through for a goal, but Neale just can’t shift Frampton.

It was a wing transition the Cats are using to burn teams over and over again this season.

A renowned fanatical trainer, Smith’s running has given Scott another weapon this year to unlock more speed, especially late in games when other players are exhausted.

Former Swans coach John Longmire sat up and noticed Smith’s running power during a game when he played for the Dogs and sat his midfield down to see the hard work.

“We looked at that from a midfield perspective and just saw his power running and it was a real lesson for our midfielders to be able to look at what he did and how hard he ran,” Longmire told AFL360 this year.

“There are versions of toughness in terms of the contest and then there is toughness in how hard you run and he is at the very top of the tree in terms of how he runs.”

Geelong doesn’t often tag — but Mark O’Connor has had success against Lachie Neale.

THE IRISH GRIP

The Cats have put hard tags on in rare circumstances before in recent years, most notably with Irishman Mark O’Connor on Lachie Neale.

On Saturday, it was another Irishman, Oisin Mullin, putting the hardest of tags on Pies star Daicos.

The superstar Pie had 12 disposals and kicked a goal in the second quarter, and looked like he had broken the clamps.

At the final break, Daicos was ranked as the fifth-best player on the ground.

But Scott and his team stood firm and kept the tag on, with Mullin’s four final term disposals outpointing Daicos’ three.

The Pie grew visibly frustrated and gave away a 50m penalty, and was ranked 35th on the ground in the last quarter as the Cats took control of the game.

Mullin’s work was well noticed around the league, with Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir enacting a similar hard tag on Thursday night.

Don’t expect the Cats to tag every week, but the Mullin card is firmly in hand to be played when needed.

Originally published as Inside the tactics and magnet moves that keep Geelong in premiership contention