The Brother(s) Grim, or, H.T.S. explained


I was convinced it was a two horse race. Kenny Hinkley or Brenton Sanderson. Mrs Watson and I both fell in to the Hinkley camp, me personally due to his greater breadth of experience and Brenton Sanderson’s mild case of H.T.S.

(Mrs. Watson explains: Unlike other Syndromes, HTS is not based in any way on medical, or even scientific actualities. It is instead, solely based on the appearance of individuals - the collective opinion that a person looks... weird. Sufferers of HTS are not commonly viewed as ugly, rather, are considered strange looking, and in fact, in most cases arouse curiosity in nearby parties. Paradoxically, despite their intriguing appearance, HTS sufferers almost always induce feelings extreme discomfort in any individual within visual proximity. The first cases of HTS (AKA: Harry Taylor Syndrome) were recorded in 2008. The seriousness of each HTS case is based on the following levels: Grant Denyer (Low Level); Christian Slater (Medium Level); Scottie Pippen (High Level); Harry Taylor (Very High Level); Christina Ricci (Too High).)

As for Chris Scott, I assumed he was included merely as “we’re doing our homework, casting a wide net, blah blah blah” ass-covering policy. I never actually considered that he was a real option; needless to say, his appointment as coach of Geelong came as somewhat of a shock. So what do we know about him?

With Brisbane, Scott won premierships, saw sustained success and was in the leadership group under coach Leigh Mathews. He then joined Fremantle as an assistant were he was credited with much of their recent turnaround.

Importantly, however, Scott was never a talented player. Indeed, in terms of talent you’d struggle to fit him in the top 20 of those Brisbane teams. Yet he made up for this with physical imposition (Chris, you will recall, was the one who immediately starting bumping the very recently dislocated shoulder of Nick Riewoldt), single-mindedness and a thorough attention to detail: All promising signs.

If you look at some of the most successful coaches of any sport, they are often these types of players; rarely does the star player make the transition to star coach, or, perhaps rarely does he want to. Lips was a back pocket player, same as Mick Malthouse and Kevin Sheedy (Leigh Mathews is the exception here). In the NBA, Phil Jackson, 10-time championship coach, was a bruising ‘hustle’ player for the Knicks in his day. In the NFL it is often offensive lineman and not quarterbacks who turn out to be the best coaches. Even the usually conservative Australian cricket board has in recent times appointed many critical thinkers who were average as players.

Maybe the great players relied on instinct, didn’t need to think or understand so much and as such couldn’t explain it. Or maybe the guys who had to fight harder for their place were forced to develop a deeper comprehension of the game. Either way, slightly above average players seem to make good coaches.

What the appointment of Scott also tells us is that The Cats are ready for a fresh start and an ‘outsider’ casting his eye over the place might just provide a little more objectivity. (For what it’s worth, Thompson is a monty to go to the bombers but I don't begrudge him anything after two flags. He can take a dump in the centre of Kardinia Park for all I care. Kinda like what Mark Blake has been doing. I have no idea about the loss of McCartney but as long as Brian Cook, and to a certain extent Neil Balme, are there it should be ok. Also, it’s probably not the best time for Frank “The Godfather” Costa to be stepping down but that was a long time planned so hopefully they have that sorted.)

Revealingly, during his last press conference, Lips mentioned that he and the coaching staff recognized the need to tweak the gameplan but could not get the 100% “buy in” required from the players. One of the first things Scott made a point of mentioning was that the younger talent on Geelong’s list needed to, and will be, given their opportunities. Given the complacency, the recent pre-Scott re-signings of Milburn and Wojcinski, plus the history of “spiritual” leader Matthew Scarlett vetoing some coaches (Darren Cresswell) while publically campaigning for others (Brenton Sanderson) how united a group is he going to inherit?

There is something about hope in sports that is more exhilarating than success. And perhaps if Scott had been in place a month earlier the club may have been a bit more bold and ruthless. It's apparently a deep draft and Geelong has six draft picks in the top 60 (15, 23, 36, 53, 57, 58) but only four available spots on the senior list. With Taylor Hunt, Daniel Menzel, Mitch Duncan and a few other pushing as well, perhaps there are still more changes to come.

Chris Scott has some tough decisions ahead, but if history is any guide, he’s not afraid of being the bad guy.