Geelong senior coach Chris Scott will lead his troops for the 350th time this Saturday afternoon against Richmond, becoming just the 12th coach in V/AFL history to achieve the milestone.
Scott becomes the quickest coach to reach this milestone, reaching the feat in 14 years and 104 days. Among the 12 others to make the mark, Scott's 67.6% winning rate is by far the best, trailed by legendary Richmond coach Tom Hafey at 63.9%.
Out of those 236 wins, which stand out as his most impressive? We take a look at the top five...
42020 Preliminary Final
One of the more underrated wins of Chris Scott's tenure was Geelong's comprehensive win over Brisbane to book a spot in the 2020 AFL Grand Final.
In a difficult COVID-impacted season which forced Geelong to play outside of Victoria for 16 of their 20 games, the Cats dropped their qualifying final to the Power, forcing them to take an extended route to the final day of the season. After dispatching Collingwood comfortably in the semi-final, they would be required to beat the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba for a shot at the premiership, arguably the most challenging task that season, with the Lions undefeated in 10 games on their home turf that year.
The pressure was even higher on Scott for this occasion too as Geelong had lost its last four preliminary finals, many from winnable positions. However, he laid out a perfect gameplan that led the Cats to a famous victory.
The Cats pushed a tag onto Lachie Neale in the first quarter, preventing him from registering a kick. It allowed for some midfield dominance, winning clearances 15-4 in the first term, even as Patrick Dangerfield began the game in the forward 50, but poor kicking in front of goal gave Geelong just a five-point lead at quarter time.
That hardly hampered the Cats' energy and eventually their scoreboard pressure opened the floodgates in the final term with Geelong running rampant to emerge as 40-point victors. Against such a formidable side, who on paper matched up strongly with Geelong, the win solidified Scott as a coaching genius, even in the most trying conditions the club and league had ever experienced.
