It is safe to say that Chris Scott has seen a lot during his tenure at Geelong. 

Across 365 games as head coach, Scott has had 128 different players roll through his team and that includes 69 debutants, steering the club to four Grand Finals and two Premierships. 

But probably even Scott would not have expected that a random trip up the highway, for a meeting with an Olympic hopeful would ultimately wind up uncovering one of the greatest players in the club's history. 

The tip came from Andrew Guthrie, the father of Cameron and Zach Guthrie, after Cam had landed at Geelong within the 2010 AFL draft. 

It paved the way for a scouting mission to the Northern suburbs of Melbourne and in return, the Cats drafted Mark Blicavs who now sits on the verge of becoming the eighth player in club history to reach 300 AFL games. 

"It is just an amazing story too," Scott told media following Sunday's Gather Round victory. 

"It feels like yesterday that we were sitting in his house in Sunbury, talking about the possibility of playing AFL footy. It felt like a one in a million to be honest, it felt like a long drive for something that wasn't going to bear any fruit at all.

"Even his first year, he was so far off AFL footy it wasn't funny.

"To be correctly acknowledged as a Geelong great, I think it is a credit to him."

Blicavs has played his entire career under the tutelage of Chris Scott, the pair combining to achieve remarkable things throughout their time together at Geelong. 

With a career win rate of 66.72%, Blicavs has continued a strong culture of success from Geelong's golden era, able to have a significant impact on the core group of players both on and off the field. 

The story is remarkable and well-renowned around the football world, a supreme middle-distance runner with a family that is successful in basketball, who has gone on to be one of the greatest players to ever wear the Hoops. 

But as Scott recalls, Blicavs certainly was not the AFL prototype when they first met and it was a courageous call, led by Stephen Wells to recruit him all those years ago. 

"There are so many aspects to it," Scott said. 

"There is the obvious one, this is where Stephen Wells absolutely should get the credit for the way he thinks about recruiting. Maybe Geelong to an extent has been forced into this position over the last couple of decades, to think outside the square a bit.

"But I think if it is not unique, it is certainly very rare that you get a suggestion associated with the club, that you should go back and have a look at this guy. He is a middle-distance runner because when he was 12 or 13, he played with my son and had a bit of talent.

"But 'Wellsy' followed that all the way through, I can't think of another example like that, certainly in my time.

"A lot of people now think about tall players who can really run, and compare them to 'Blitz.'"