WHILE Chris Scott's recent appointment by Geelong came as a surprise, it could further suggest that avoiding emotional attachment is the best option.

Assistant coaches with just three years' experience are not usually the first cab off the rank when a senior job opens up, and there were far more qualified campaigners considered for the role.

While Ken Hinkley and Brenton Sanderson had served longer apprenticeships, the main advantage they seemed to have over Scott was that they were Geelong people.

Both had played the bulk of their careers at the Cats before helping Mark Thompson build a dynasty.

Public support will always go the way of the club man when a senior job opens up. It's only natural that when a side needs some 'good news', supporters and sometimes board members will want to get a candidate in who knows the club and can set it on the right path.

Cue West Coast's appointment of dual premiership captain John Worsfold at the end of 2001, which paid the highest of dividends five years later.

Scott's signing by the Cats followed Hird's by Essendon, despite Hird having no previous experience in an AFL coach's box.

Hird has shown himself to have a sharp football mind and be someone with good people skills yet the fact he was a favourite son - post-Matthew Knights - was clearly in his corner.

But given the risk involved, Hird's appointment may be among the last of its kind.

It has been compared by some to inexperienced Michael Voss' arrival as Brisbane Lions coach just 24 hours after Leigh Matthews' resignation at the end of 2008.

In a time when 'due diligence' has become one of football's most overused phrases, the Lions didn't seem to look anywhere but their own backyard for Matthews' successor.

Another favourite son who's a year off taking the reins is Nathan Buckley, although Collingwood's understudy arrangement will see Mick Malthouse - now a three-time premiership coach - remain in some capacity until 2013. 

History has shown that great players don't necessarily make great coaches and time will tell whether the Pies, Lions and Bombers have made the right decisions.

Hawthorn and St Kilda certainly did when they were last in the market for a senior coach.

Alastair Clarkson was given the Hawthorn coaching job at a time when that club's premiership players Rodney Eade, Terry Wallace and Gary Ayres were available.

He took a couple of years to properly implement his game plan but soon enough got the Hawks back into the finals and in 2008 they won the flag.

Lyon was a left-field appointment in that St Kilda chose a purely objective approach.

No former Saints were short-listed for the job, with John Longmire, Daryn Cresswell and Guy McKenna in the mix after several successful years as assistants.

Lyon was a late arrival to the race and was reportedly endorsed by Robert Walls, who had been appointed to the Saints' coaching sub-committee in a neutral capacity.

Longmire and McKenna will begin their senior coaching careers in 2011, but the Saints have gone deep into September for the past three years and Lyon is widely considered one of the best football brains in the business.

Appointing an outsider is by no means a new idea, and Kevin Sheedy, Allan Jeans, Malthouse and Matthews all had long distinguished coaching careers separate to their playing days. Malthouse's continues in impressive fashion.

However, there are enough exceptions, and Buckley, Voss or Hird could mirror Paul Roos' enormous impact at the Sydney Swans.

But so could Scott.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.