Scott likes Cats’ ‘advantageous’ route to AFL prelim
Chris Scott insists Geelong’s direct path to the AFL preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions has been “advantageous” for his side.
The Cats have played just one game in four weeks leading into Saturday’s clash at the MCG, courtesy of the pre-finals bye and their qualifying final win over Port Adelaide.
Before this year, qualifying final winners had won nine of 16 preliminary finals since the introduction of the pre-finals bye in 2016.
The winning rate of 56.25 per cent is down from 87.5 per cent from 2000 to 2015, when the same finals system was used without a pre-finals bye.
All four qualifying final winners won through to the grand final in 2022 and 2023.
Scott steered clear of comparing Geelong’s route to that of Brisbane, who won in week one and had to come from 44 points down to beat GWS in a semi-final last week.
But the two-time premiership coach believes the Cats’ schedule has worked in their favour.
“I try not to think of it as an us-versus-them thing. I would probably frame it as we would’ve preferred to have won in the first week,” Scott said.
“I think that sort of answers the question to an extent, but every team’s a little bit different.
“We do have some important players who we load-manage throughout the year.
“So to get to this point where we feel like that’s been done for us to an extent, and we can choose the level of their load over the last three weeks or so, has been advantageous for us.”
Scott enters his ninth preliminary final in 14 years with Geelong, and third against the Lions in the past five seasons.
It comes after the 48-year-old featured in three preliminary finals as a player with Brisbane.
But true to form, Scott is not looking in the rear vision mirror.
“I’ve got to stay true to what I believe in, which is I just try to be in the moment,” he said.
“I look at every season in isolation as much as possible, every game in isolation.
“Our coaches and list management groups need to plan, but when you get to this point I get no solace looking back on the things we’ve done well.
“Maybe you sort of learn from them a bit and feel a bit better, but I get no motivation at all from the times when we haven’t quite delivered.
“I’m just trying to get the next bit right.”
Scott dismissed concerns over Cats speedster Max Holmes, who was out for a run well before his teammates at Friday’s light training session at GMHBA Stadium.
The coach said Holmes, who missed the 2022 premiership through injury, had been ill this week and spent time away from the team but was in no doubt to play against Brisbane.
Scott also left the door open for Sam De Koning, Tom Hawkins and Cam Guthrie to return in the grand final if the Cats qualify.
He strongly weighed up picking De Koning to mark Lions forward Joe Daniher, despite the versatile tall having played just two VFL matches on return from the knee surgery he underwent last month.
De Koning was named on the Cats’ emergency list with Ted Clohesy and retiring Irish veteran Zach Tuohy, who was dropped to make way for Tom Stewart.
Five-time All-Australian Stewart is back after overcoming a hamstring injury and illness, which kept him out of the qualifying final.
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