Matthews a big fan of Cats coach Scott

Even after Geelong lost to Richmond in round 20, coach Chris Scott said the reigning premiers were beatable.

AFL

AFL great Leigh Matthews loves Cats coach Chris Scott's (pictured) approach to the game. (AAP)

AFL great Leigh Matthews loves that even after losing to Richmond, Geelong coach Chris Scott was challenging the reigning premiers in public.

It has echoes of Matthews' famous quote in 2001, when he was coaching Brisbane and evoked the line before their defining game against Essendon from the movie Predator: "if it bleeds, we can kill it".

The Lions beat the Bombers, who were the defending premiers and had won eight out of their first nine games that season.

Brisbane beat Essendon again in the 2001 grand final for the first of their premiership three-peat.

Scott was a key member of that 2001 Lions team and the Matthews protege is showing he has learned his old master's lessons well.

After losing to the Tigers by three points in round 20 - and well before the Cats' finals berth was confirmed - Scott said Richmond would still need a lot to go right to win a second-straight flag.

"That's exactly what an opposition coach should be saying about Richmond - that they have to play well to win ... mostly for your own players," Matthews told the Four Hoarseman podcast.

"The coaches I've coached I guess and I've and spoken to, I say 'in your press conferences, you're mainly speaking to your own players'.

"People think you're speaking to the fans - okay, a little bit, yeah.

"But it has to be completely in line with everything with the things you're saying to your players behind the scenes."

Geelong won their last two games to finish eighth and will play Melbourne on September 7 in a Friday night elimination final at the MCG.

Chris and twin brother Brad are the most successful members of Matthews' coaching alumni from the three-premiership era at Brisbane.

Michael Voss and Justin Leppitsch have had unsuccessful stints as senior coaches, while Chris led Geelong to the 2011 premiership.

The year before, Brad started coaching North Melbourne.

"I have an enormous amount of respect for Chris and Brad," Matthews said.

"They're just fantastic people and they're smart people. They have the football intellect."

Matthews said Chris Scott's public challenging of Richmond was typical of how he conducts himself in public.

"I often say about Chris, when I hear coaches talk in their press conferences, most of the time you just think it's the company line," Matthews said.

"But I've never heard Chris say a wrong word - he did it once and I'm just trying to think where I thought 'I wish you hadn't said that Chris'.

"He handles the public part of the coaching role brilliantly."


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Source: AAP


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