Those closest to Chris Scott reveal his strengths ahead of his 300th game
On the eve of his 300th game, those who have worked closest to Chris Scott provide a rare insight into how he became a dominant coach.
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The ultimate optimist with a vocabulary that can easily confuse his players.
Always ahead of the game and perhaps a little outdated with his movie references.
On the eve of Chris Scott’s 300th game as coach, those that know the two-time flag winning master coach have painted the picture of a genius football brain, who backs his players to the hilt.
Canvassed by this masthead this week, those who have worked closest with the Geelong coach have described him as a football head who has steadily taken his hands off the wheel when needed, in a rare insight into one of the biggest figures in football’s modern era.
Of the greats who have reached 300 games in charge of VFL/AFL teams, nobody comes particularly close to Scott’s remarkable winning percentage of 69.2, with only Essendon legend Dick Reynolds winning better than two-thirds of his games.
Sometimes prickly on camera, Scott is overwhelmingly positive behind closed doors and always believes in his team and his fellow coaches.
“I said to him the other day, I have never met somebody who is so optimistic,” Cats football boss Simon Lloyd said.
“He sees the best in all players and people.”
Star forward Jeremy Cameron has also noticed the stark positivity in his coach, with Scott building a club that sits on the same level every week, no matter what the scoreboard said on the weekend.
“He is really positive throughout the week, every week, whether you win or lose,” Cameron said.
A longtime former Geelong assistant and VFL coach, who is now with the West Coast Eagles, Matthew Knights said Scott let his players do what they do best, within a framework of a system.
“He has the capacity to allow players to play to their strengths within a system and trusted his staff to work with the players in their own style,” Knights said.
Few people have spent as much time around Scott as Nigel Lappin.
The star midfielder played alongside the Cats coach in Leigh Matthews’ uber-successful Brisbane Lions team and has been alongside Scott for his entire tenure at Kardinia Park.
Lappin said Scott always supported his players.
“(He) always has the backs of his people through the good and especially the tough times,” Lappin said.
“He understands individual and the collectives needs and strengths and aligns this with team values and communicated simply, with great self awareness and reflection.
“All of this creates a great place to come to work and get the most out of yourself and each other.”
James Kelly played in a premiership under Scott and coached a premiership beside him and believes Scott’s humility is underrated.
Scott breaks down the game and delivers his messages to the players simplistically, even if he gets carried away at times with his words.
“His ability to see the game from all different angles and still be able to distil it down in a digestible way for players to understand (makes him a good coach), even if he uses words no one else knows the meaning of,” Kelly said.
Scott, always thoughtful and shrewd with his words when dealing with the media, has some payers reaching for the dictionary in team meetings.
He is funnier than most people expect but some inside the club at Geelong also shake their heads at his referencing of movies from the 1980s or 1990s, eras that mean little to the Tik Tok generation.
Even so, he still boils things down quickly for the Cats to fix on field.
“He is very positive and creates a clear picture and purpose weekly,” Cats assistant Shane O’Bree said.
“He is great at explaining a game scenario to make it seem simple to any player or coach.”
A defence-first coach through most of his tenure, Scott has spent countless hours looking for an edge and a way to stay ahead of the curve.
It’s this preparation that has helped him keep the Cats near the top for almost his entire stay, having missed the finals just once in 12 years leading into 2023, as former assistant James Rahilly said he “always had one eye on the short term and one on the long term success” of the club.
“Scotty has an innate drive to pursue ways of staying ahead of the game, while staying true to his beliefs on how the game should be players,” Rahilly, who is now an assistant coach at Adelaide, said.
It is in the breakdown of a tactic or moment in a game that Scott is at his best.
And the tactical mastermind doesn’t do it alone, he relies on his players to give him feedback at all times.
“He is highly adaptable to change and I think there have been a lot of games of football where I have observed adjustments and levers he can pull that have resulted in a winning record,” Lloyd said.
“He thinks deeply about the game and where the game is going and constantly looks for insights from his players. I watched him at training (this week) and he stood next to Mitch Duncan and Patty Dangerfield for a good 45 minutes to an hour and they would have been discussing the game and where it is going and where we can make adjustments.
“There are a number of players that have been new to the club and at different points their key messages and what they have highlighted with Chris is we are there to serve the players, not the other way around.”
Scott not only says he is there to help the players, he actually believes it.
“He genuinely works for the players, rather than believing they work for him,” Lappin said.
A two-time premiership winning player with the Lions, Scott dreamt of a club that worked like a university, where the players came in and did their work to improve before going home to their families and lives.
“He values players having a life outside of footy more than most,” Kelly said.
Part of that university-style plan was to allow his coaches to do their jobs without strenuous oversight from the assistant coach.
“He is a good listener and empowers his people to be at their best,” Blake Caracella, who worked under Scott until the end of 2016 before joining Richmond and then Essendon, said.
“Chris manages and influences across the whole club, articulates well and is always looking to improve himself and the club on and off the field.”
Scott said this week his ascension to the top job at Geelong was “premature” in his coaching career, as he guided the Cats to a flag in his first year in 2011 at the age of 35.
He had moments through his 299 games where he considered whether the grind was worth it, but he always came back to the exhilaration of victory, a thrill he couldn’t find anywhere else.
Scott never lost the feeling of honour working inside Geelong, even as he shaped the club dramatically in his own image.
“In my opinion, it was premature in my coaching journey when I was appointed in 2010 but not only was a premature but I got to come to a great club and learn from them,” he said.
“It wasn’t the traditional thing when a coach comes to a club that is a little bit broken and needs to change everything, it was incumbent on me to fit in and at the time I felt privileged to be a part of it and I feel the same now.”
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