Geelong premiership coach Mark Thompson was appointed as coach of the Victorian team late last year, with four-time premiership coach Kevin Sheedy as his deputy and Brisbane Lions' skipper Jonathan Brown named as captain of the side.
The remaining members of the Victorian coaching panel have now been confirmed with Mark Thompson, Kevin Sheedy and Chris Scott to be joined by Brenton Sanderson and Ken Hinkley in the box on match day. Chris’ Brisbane Lions Premiership team mate Chris Johnson and former Richmond Tiger Duncan Kellaway will act as team runners.
Chris today said he was honoured to be appointed as an assistant coach for the ‘Big V’ for the Hall of Fame Tribute match.
“It would be nice if the game builds a bit of tradition,” he said.
“You never know whether it will be played again so if it is a one off it will be nice to say you were involved in it.
“As a proud Victorian I am looking forward to it.”
Chris’s 14 year career with Brisbane saw him earn dual Premiership honours, playing in the Lions’ premierships of 2001 and 2002 as well as finishing in the top ten for Brisbane’s Best and Fairest Award on six occasions. He is a Life Member of the Brisbane Lions.
Chris last represented Victoria back in 1993 when he was part of their Teal Cup side. He won the Alan Schwab Medal as Best-on-Ground in the Teal Cup Grand Final that year to kick start what was a highly successful career.
Chris said that while he never had the chance to represent Victoria at State of Origin level while playing for Brisbane, his role in the Hall of Fame Tribute match would prove just as exciting.
“I would have loved to have played for Victoria but as the years have gone on your allegiances to your club have outweighed anything else. That’s still the case now to be honest but, especially, that this game may be a one off I think for a lot of the really top players in the competition it might be their one chance to play in something like this so I’m sure they’d be excited by the prospect,” Chris said.
With the preliminary Victorian squad boasting the likes of Jonathon Brown, Chris Judd, reigning Brownlow Medallist Jimmy Bartel and Luke Hodge to name only a few, Chris is expecting a high calibre performance from the ‘Big V’ at the home of football.
“I’m sure it will be a pretty open, attacking, free flowing sort of game. From all reports everyone is taking it quite seriously and reputations will be on the line,” Chris said.
“It’s rare that we get the chance to see the very best players competing against one another so from that perspective it is very exciting.”
With Fremantle Captain Matthew Pavlich and Luke McPharlin in contention for Dream Team selection, Chris was coy when asked whether he would use his inside knowledge on the pair to Victoria’s advantage, saying: “A little bit but neither of those players have too many weaknesses so I don’t know how much assistance I’ll be able to be.”
“We’re assuming they’ll both play. They’ve both had really good starts to the season and they’re both high quality players. . . . . but for a day at least I’ll be a Victorian,” he said with a wry grin.
