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Opinion
For the fourth time since 2012 the Cats have lost a preliminary final and another promising home-and-away season has fallen flat in the finals.
For such a talented list, it’s hard to believe that Geelong have only made one grand final in the last ten seasons, however it’s become somewhat of a groundhog day scenario for the Cats.
More often than not they would finish in the top four, build up their hopes just to lose the qualifying final, follow it up the next week with a convincing win in the semi-final only to fall short in the preliminary final. Well, if you can call losing by 83 points short.
So where to now for Geelong?
The age demographic of their list would indicate that they’re about to fall off a cliff and most likely require a rebuild, which considering their long-term sustained period of success (home-and-away that is) you’d think a rebuild is long overdue.
That being said, it’s not crazy to say that Geelong have a genuine chance of being a contender next season.
With the forward combination of Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron, a solid defence and a midfield full of All Australian potential players, the Cats can still have premiership aspirations for 2022.
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
However, as we all know too well, Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Considering the Cats have done the same thing for the past ten years and outside of one grand final appearance, they have seen the same results, that means it’s time for a change.
Obviously they won’t overhaul their whole playing list in one off season, which means the change they need to make is in the head coaching role.
Credit to Chris Scott, he has been a phenomenal coach for over a decade, something that few can say.
However there is no denying just how poor his finals record has been outside of his 2011 premiership.
From 2012 onwards, Scott’s finals record is 6-13 with only one of those wins being a qualifying final (2016) and one being a preliminary final (2020).
While it’s undeniable that Scott’s home-and-away record is head and shoulders above his fellow coaches, he hasn’t been able to win when it matters, leaving the Cats little but no choice but to part ways.
The thing is, having Chris Scott as their coach is safe. They’re more likely than not to make finals each year with him. The team already knows the system he installs and most importantly they know it works to a degree.
So with that being said, should the Cats leave their safety zone and take a risk in sacking a coach with such a good record?
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Well an example in recent history comes to mind where a team did take the risk is the NBA franchise the Toronto Raptors.
In 2018 the Raptors finished first in the east and with a weakened conference they looked set to at least make it past the second round at a minimum.
Instead, Lebron James singlehandedly swept the Raptors and left them in a fairly similar position that Geelong are in now.
Being at a cross road, the Raptors made the bold decision to fire their head coach Dwane Casey, who was actually named coach of the year for the season.
The next season they won their first NBA championship and the narrative of them being playoff chokers quickly went away.
While it must be noted that the Raptors did trade for Kawhi Leonard, someone who may be a top 20 player of all time when all is said and done, there’s no doubt that the coaching change also made a dramatic difference.
So it’s time for the Cats to roll the dice, bring in a new coach and have one final run at ultimate glory before their inevitable rebuild.
If not, then we know what to expect from Scott and the Cats next year and unfortunately for Cats fans it’s not a flag.
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