Geelong coach Chris Scott has been lauded for getting “in front of the curve” around Mitch Duncan’s bump on Swans defender Robbie Fox.
The reigning premiers sent a statement to the competition on Saturday night, thumping Sydney by 93 points in an ominous Grand Final rematch performance.
Duncan’s collision with Fox, though, was highly scrutinised and debated by broadcasters during the match.
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Fox’s head hit the turf after Duncan’s bump, but crucially Fox went past the ball – as opposed to one player going for the ball while the other elects to bump – and lowered his body position before contact.
The incident was assessed on Sunday by Match Review Officer Michael Christian, but Duncan wasn’t charged as Christian deemed the Cats player’s actions were “not unreasonable in the circumstances”.
While AFL coaches have been renowned for their unwillingness to comment on – or claim they didn’t see – possible MRO incidents at post-match media conferences, Scott clearly came to his presser on Saturday night armed with his view on Duncan’s bump.
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As reporters prepared to leave Scott’s press conference, the surprised Geelong coach asked “did you want to talk about Mitch Duncan” as he hadn’t been asked about the 31-year-old across the previous eight and a half minutes.
After elaborating on how Duncan had fared at AFL level since returning from injury, Scott was asked whether he was concerned about the dual premiership player having a case to answer for.
“I’m not. I’ve looked at it really closely and it’s almost impossible to do anything different than what he did when a player’s coming at you at that speed,” Scott told reporters.
“I’m not saying Fox deliberately ran past the ball, but he ended up past the ball – and Mitch has got to protect himself somehow. It looks to me like the contact was to the shoulder and, fortunately, Robbie’s OK.”
Eight-time All-Australian and former Collingwood Coach Nathan Buckley praised Scott for being proactive and prepared to offer an immediate view.
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“Even the way he handled the press conference – and the more you do something the better you get at it – but the way he handled the press conference (on Saturday night), stopped everyone before they walked out and said ‘do we want to talk about Mitch’,” Buckley told SEN Breakfast on Monday morning.
“He was able to give his opinion, in some way control the narrative … They were up by so much and had won the game that he had a chance to analyse the vision.
“He was able to arm himself with the information and went in and gave his opinion. Ultimately, I think that has an influence when you actually get in front of the curve and you’re able to highlight some of the facts of an incident before anyone has to adjudicate on it.
“I thought it was done brilliantly.”
