EXACTLY how much weight did Chris Scott put into the criticism of the Cats this week?
"You'd be surprised to know how little I'm aware of," he laughed on Friday night.
Having silenced doubts about Geelong's ability to progress deep into September this season with a 20-point victory over reigning premiers West Coast on Friday night, Scott had reason to feel excited by his side's response to the questions posed their way in the lead up to the semi-final.
Chris Scott isn't one to hide his emotions. Picture: AFL Photos
Game plan, selection decisions and injury management … it had all been queried. However, any concerns were put to bed with a solid display.
But even still, the Cats coach stayed subdued.
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"I have to do press conferences, so I get briefed about stuff that's out there," Scott said.
"But I've never thought it's about me as a coach. I think it's peculiar, the role that the coach has in footy. I don't think it's about me tonight. And even if it was about the coach, then it's a gross misunderstanding of how a coaching group at AFL level works these days."
Although Scott was coy about the criticism that came his way throughout the week, he challenged anyone to question that he didn't feel the pain of a poor result.
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"To say it doesn't concern me … I'd prefer to win every week and feel really good about myself," Scott said.
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"But I can't describe how bad I feel after we lose, so if someone wants to kick me while I'm down … it doesn't have that much of an impact, I'm already down.
"If you want to make it a competition for the person who feels the worst after the Cats lose, I'll take anyone on … but it's temporary. I wouldn't describe it as elation, tonight. It's just relief that we get the chance to go again and it's a huge challenge on Friday night.
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"By lunchtime tomorrow, we're into it."
However, while suggesting he didn't read into the criticism that followed last week's disappointing performance, Scott didn't miss his chance to question those who had negatively portrayed Geelong's qualifying final loss to Collingwood last Friday night.
"It's not their fault, those people," Scott said.
"They've never been in it. Some have and it didn't work out, but even then it's moved on quite a bit from the old days when they coached."
