Chris Scott will celebrate an incredible milestone on Thursday night, as he becomes just the second coach in Geelong Football Club history to reach 300-games at the helm.
Throughout his 299-game coaching tenure at Geelong, Scott has won an astounding 69.23% of those matches which is the highest winning percentage of any AFL coach with over 60-games at the top.
Scott started his journey as Geelong coach in 2011, immediately finding success as he lead the Cats to a Premiership in his first season as an AFL coach.
Since that inaugural year, Scott has coached the Cats to an amazing 12 finals appearances from his 13 seasons in charge, never finishing with a losing record in any season.
With the most total wins of any Geelong coach, the most finals wins, three Grand Final appearances and two premierships, there are not many accolades that Scott is yet to achieve.
Cameron Ling and Meg McDonald discussed the upcoming milestone on this week’s episode of the ‘To the Final Bell’ podcast.
"Through my footy experience, I can't quite process or quantify that huge number of games,” McDonald said.
“The sheer amount of games is extraordinary, and the success he has had throughout is amazing. It's a serious responsibility to the town and the region, that sort of stability and that sustained success.
"We speak about how connected the club is to the community, and how much the club success benefits everyone. The leaders are so fundamental to that, we have a lot to thank Chris for."
Perhaps it was meant to be for Chris Scott, as his final game as an AFL player came in a 42-point loss to Geelong in the last round of 2007, just four weeks before the Cats went on to break their 44-year premiership drought.
Scott’s first year at the Cats coincided with Cameron Ling’s last, as the two combined to lead the club to the 2011 AFL Premiership as Coach and Captain.
Ling reminisced on Scott’s journey and just how much he had done for the club.
"I was very, very fortunate that my last year was his first year,” Ling said.
"What I've seen throughout all of these years is a coach who has developed, changed, adapted and continued to strive for the greatness of the team, but he has done it in a really professional and selfless manner.
"It is a wonderful achievement, amazingly he seemed so much older when he first came to the club because he was part of that great Brisbane team that we all looked up to as younger players.
"We always felt he was way older than all of us, but he was only five years older than me and I was captain of the team. To coach a team who was extremely successful at that point of time, but there was changes that needed to be made, new ideas that needed to be brought in.”
The final record yet to be broken by Scott at the Geelong Football Club is total games as coach, which the great Reg Hickey still holds with 304-games at the helm.
Scott is set to break this record in six-weeks’ time, which would see him reach the milestone in Geelong’s clash at GMHBA Stadium against Fremantle.
Ling stated how significant that achievement will be for Scott, considering Geelong’s rich VFL & AFL history.
"Five weeks away from him breaking the all-time record at the Geelong Football Club, something that he won't much of a fuss made about because that's the kind of guy he is,” Ling said.
“The great Reg Hickey, one of the legends of the Geelong Football Club, 304 games and one of the true icons of the club holds the record.
"Some clubs go through four, five, even six coaches over a short period of time. Since 2000, this club has had two.
"Really settled, sustained leadership, development programs, culture built, a really strong environment under quality leaders. That has to help players get the best out of themselves.”
Scott will bring up game 300 in the clash with Melbourne this Thursday night, a team that he holds a great regular season record against with 11-wins from 14-games.
