Geelong coach Chris Scott on how he’s come to have complete faith in his recruiting staff

Geelong coach Chris Scott has revealed how ultimate trust between departments has helped the Cats remain a constant threat during his 14 seasons in charge.

Geelong coach Chris Scott and general manager Andrew Mackie. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

If there was an annual award for a rookie taking to the elite level with complete aplomb, young Geelong defender Lawson Humphries surely would have been at short odds this year.

Arriving at Kardinia Park with pick 63 in last year’s national draft, the silky skilled and cool-headed West Australian became one of the key reasons why the Cats’ list appeared rejuvenated by the closing rounds of the regular season.

At least one former premiership Cat, Cam Mooney, thought he and the likes of Ollie Dempsey and Shanun Mannagh, held the key to a premiership tilt.

And on Thursday night at the Carji Greeves Medal count, two-time premiership coach Chris Scott happily offered Lawson’s transition to the top flight had little to do with him.

Humphries’ almost instant success, on that cold and wintery night at the MCG against Essendon in a Round 16 season-altering game, was the result of strategic thinking and decision making from the club’s recruiting, development and list management brains trust.

Geelong’s Lawson Humphries was one of the big success stories of the Cats’ 2024 season. Picture: Michael Klein

“I don’t take any credit whatsoever for Lawson Humphries,” Scott said.

It’s a generous statement but perhaps underlines a reason why the Cats have enjoyed so much success in Scott’s 14-season tenure turning rough diamonds into sparkling gems: trust in his wider team.

Scott should rightly gets a healthy share of the acclaim whenever he guides a team to a premiership, but he’s smart enough to know he’s only as good as the support networks will allow — you can’t have a flag conteder without the right ingredients.

“Maybe our development and our recruitment and our list management teams don’t get enough credit,” Scott said on Thursday night.

Exhibit A would be one of the biggest success stories of the Cats’ 2024 season in 21-year-old Humphries.

Scott said the club’s recruiting svengali Stephen Wells and his support staff had done a “remarkable job” plucking Humphries from the near total obscurity of the WAFL reserves last year, while the development team brought him along “quickly”.

Under new development head Nigel Lappin, Humphries excelled at VFL level so rapidly, the former premiership Lion was banging down the door of Scott and his coaching staff to pick the tyro in the ones.

Chris Scott and Andrew Mackie at training before the preliminary final. Picture: Michael Klein

“Our development guys, probably Nigel Lappin the most, he was (saying) ... you’ve just got to play this guy,” Scott said on Thursday.

“Such is the faith that I have in his opinions ... if he feels so strongly about it, we probably should do it.

“And now he’s saying ‘I told you so, you’re 10 weeks too late’.”

Better late than never.

However, outgoing president Craig Drummond made the point on Thursday night that Humphries is one of nine young players who featured in the Cats’ 10-point preliminary final loss to Brisbane who weren’t part of the 2022 premiership.

Of the nine 24 months ago, three were at other clubs (Tanner Bruhn, Jack Bowes, Ollie Henry), one was plying his trade in the VFL (Shannon Neale) and four (Ollie Dempsey, Oisin Mullin, Lawson Humphries and Shaun Mannagh) had yet to ascend to the top level, leaving just Max Holmes who was left out of the 23 due to a hamstring injury.

All of them, bar Mannagh, are aged 26 or younger.

Ollie Dempsey came seventh in the Carji Greeves Medal. Picture: Martin Keep/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

And in a further sign of strength for the future, 70 per cent of the 2024 Carji Greeves top 10 are in that age demographic.

The freshness that cohort has brought over the past two years hasn’t been lost on captain Patrick Dangerfield.

“We’ve seen some great development from some of our young players,” Dangerfield said on Thursday night.

“Shaun Mannagh is not a young player, but he’s made a real difference to our side and it’s littered with others as well.”

Scott agreed, who happily gifted Mannagh a debut in Round 1 against St Kilda.

“I guess you could call it a calculated risk, but I reckon he was two weeks into our program where the risk was completely mitigated, you could just tell he was ready to play AFL footy,” he said.

However, Scott said some teams can get carried away with the appeal of youthful exuberance and go too far the other way — finding the sweet spot of pairing youth with seasoned veterans remains the competition’s version of the secret herbs and spices.

“We have no intention of putting all of our eggs in one basket,” he said.

Shaun Mannagh became a key part of the team by the end of the regular season. Picture :Michael Klein

“It’s difficult to do it overnight, it takes a long period of meticulous planning, especially at the list management level.

“Young players in our system ... have a better chance to flourish when they’re playing next to some experienced, hardened AFL players.

“I think everyone’s searching for that balance. I think we’re relatively close.”

A balance built upon trust.

“Hand on heart, I have such faith in Stephen Wells and his team, the work Andrew Mackie’s done, (recruiter) Shane O’Bree, we’ve known each other for a long time,” he said.

“Successful clubs do preach stability and cohesion for a reason, when you know these people.

“There’s no point being stable if the people are no good, the reason you stay stable is because you have such a high regard for those people.

“I trust them implicitly.”

Chris Scott with Jeremy Cameron, Zach Guthrie and Carji Greeves medallist Max Holmes Picture: Mark Wilson

To such an extent, Scott was happy for a recruiter’s opinion to override his own on particular players, as evidenced by Humphries’ selection.

“So when it comes to the recruiting, I have an opinion but I’ve got a healthy respect for the work that they do that overrides my opinion,” he said.

“If Stephen tells me that he’s done the work on a player and he should play in this position and it’s time to give him a chance, I tend to defer to that opinion.”

At the Carji Greeves, outgoing president Craig Drummond said with Wells in his 40th year at the club, he was by now a “genuine legend of our footy club”.

“You’ve been instrumental in our success,” Drummond said.

Originally published as Geelong coach Chris Scott on how he’s come to have complete faith in his recruiting staff