Chris Scott wants coaches kept out of the crowd at quarter breaks after an encounter at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night drew fresh attention to the way teams reach the boundary. Geelong's coach made the point after his side lost to Adelaide 11.9 to 10.14, a one-point finish that left him speaking as much about access and security as the result.
Scott was walking out to the Cats' huddle at three-quarter-time when he spoke with Adelaide Oval security, after fans interacted with him on the way through. He later called the supporters he dealt with “nuffies” and said he had not said anything to them. His view was blunt: coaches should not be required to walk through the crowd at any ground, let alone one packed with the sort of noise and pressure that comes with a tight game.
He did not hide his admiration for the venue. Scott said Adelaide Oval is one of the best stadiums in the world and that he loves it, but he also described the coach access setup as an oversight. “This is one of the best stadiums in the world – I love it – [but] no, it’s an oversight that the coaches should have to walk through the crowd. I don’t want to do it at any ground,” he said. It was not the first time he has raised the issue, either.
Almost exactly five years ago, after a match against Port Adelaide, Scott said he “tripped on someone’s leg” in what he called “a strange situation” and “a bit silly” arrangement for coaches to be moving through spectators. Thursday's complaint lands in the same place as that earlier one: a stadium that is widely praised, and a match-day access route that still appears to leave room for trouble.
The concern now is whether anything changes. The AFL and Adelaide Oval have not confirmed any adjustment to the coach route, but Scott's criticism puts the arrangement back under the spotlight after a night when Geelong lost by two points and the conversation around the game was still being shaped by what happened at three-quarter-time. Adelaide also had its own late-night problems, finishing with a reduced rotation after injuries, while Toby Murray and debutant Hugo Hall-Kahan collided in a bloody clash and Hall-Kahan, who had been working in retail this time last week before Tuesday's mid-season draft, returned to complete his debut. On a night of small margins, the one between the boundary line and the crowd may now matter just as much.
There was also possible match review officer scrutiny for Taylor Walker after he pushed Connor O'Sullivan into the path of Jordan Dawson in the third quarter, though O'Sullivan was uninjured. Those incidents will fade into the paperwork. Scott's view on coach access is less likely to disappear, because he has now said the same thing twice at the same ground and made clear he does not want to keep threading his way through fans to get to his team.
