At 8am on Tuesday, October 5 2010, the day after Mark Thompson had resigned as coach of the Geelong Football Club, the sub-committee charged with finding the next coach convened for the first time. 

In the room were Brian Cook, Neil Balme, and football manager Steve Hocking. Colin Carter, who was set to replace Frank Costa at the end of the year was there, as were Gareth Andrews and Diana Taylor. 

Balme opened the meeting:

“This is a good opportunity for us. It’s very rare that you can change direction when you are on a high, even though the last game was a bit of a low, we’re still a pretty well-performed club.’

Balme was right. 

The Cats had become victims of their own expectations, in a way. For most clubs, a 17-win season and a trip to the preliminary final would be more than enough to satisfy players, fans, and board members alike, but not Geelong. 

The club was hurting for falling short, and the role of the next coach would be one like no other.

Chris Scott was in Bali for a wedding when he was first approached:

“It was one of those things where I thought, ‘Well, Geelong people are probably going to get it, so do I even want to put myself through that process?”

But a little-known aside was that there were ‘Geelong people’ who had had their own experiences with the former Brisbane Lion as far back as 2008, in particular Steve Hocking. 

At the time, Mark Thompson was chosen to lead the Victorian side during the Hall of Fame Tribute match. Thompson brought with him his own crew of assistants, including Ken Hinkley and Brenton Sanderson, but Scott, then just six months into his tenure at Fremantle was added to the group and evidently impressed the men from Kardinia Park, especially Hocking. 

Scott was in Bright doing the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail when he got the call. 

“From the start it was something I never expected. Right until I got the call from Neil Balme, I didn’t think it was any chance, must less a good chance.”

Just prior to the announcement, the mobile phones of Cats players holidaying abroad lit up with the news that Scott had been appointed to succeed Thompson.  

Their responses were as telling as they were identical. In many ways, it was this moment, playing out as it did across the world, that began the climb back up the mountain. 

As good as Thompson was, and he was very, very good for the Geelong Football Club, the hiring of Chris Scott arguably changed the trajectory of the club, it’s players and ultimately the 2011 season.  

Ruckman Brad Ottens said the decision jolted the playing group into a new preparedness. 

“The decision probably took us out of our comfort zone as you have to prove yourself to the new coach,” he said.

“Established guys in the team would have thought they had a walk-up start with Kenny (Hinkley), rather than having to earn your spot with a new head coach.”

Matthew Scarlett was in New York with Corey Enright when he got the message. 

“It provided an instant challenge – we all had to prove ourselves again. 

“The irregular runs over there became daily. While we’d still go out and have a drink, we’d be in the gym the next morning working out on the bike.”

Geelong, November 2010

Scott’s hard and uncompromising attitude as a player would follow him to Kardinia Park, and the memories of the way those Michael Voss led Lions he was a part of that brutalised the competition in the early 2000s were fresh in the mind of the more senior Cats.  

But it was his initial address to the playing group on the opening day of pre-season training in November that impressed most. 

“I love so much of what you guys do,” he said.

“That’s why you’re a good team and it’s why I respect you a lot. I’m not going to be able to tell you how to play the game because you all know how to do that, and you’ve done it well over a long time.”

‘But we just need to change a few things to make us a better side.’

And just like that, the coach and the players were on the same page. 

By January, though it hadn’t been exactly smooth sailing, things were now starting to click. The new year brought new hope, and the buzzword around the then Skilled Stadium was ‘trust.’ And it was key. 

Scott’s consultative style, bringing the senior players along was starting to bear fruit. They were in it together, and everyone could feel it. 

‘I would say to them, “You guys know footy just as well as me, some of you better than me in certain respects.”’ ‘If they had genuine concerns that something wasn’t working or it was not the right way of going about things, come and talk to me. 

‘I’ll either convince you that it is, or you’ll convince me, and we’ll make changes. That’ trust. Being together on this was the only way we were going to get it done. ‘

Tomorrow: Greatness Inc. Part 3: The Hunters: The Cats find themselves in an unfamiliar position of being the hunter rather than the hunter, with the Magpies firmly in their sights. 

Sources: Comeback, The Fall and Rise of Geelong, James Button. Greatness Gullan, Scott, Greatness. Scarlett, Matthew, Hold the Line (My Story. Johnson, Steve (with Adam McNicol), Stevie J: The Cat with the Giant Story. Chapman, Paul (with Jon Anderson), Chappy: Believe it or Not.