Geelong will announce a new era on Monday morning when they confirm Chris Scott as the AFL club's new senior coach.

Scott is the surprise choice ahead of current Cats assistant Brenton Sanderson and former Geelong star Ken Hinkley to succeed two-time premiership coach Mark Thompson.

The Cats will formally announce Scott's appointment on a three-year deal at 11am on Monday.

By going to the candidate with no Geelong connections, the Cats have signalled an overhaul of the structure that took them to the 2007-09 grand finals and a preliminary final appearance this season.

But last week, chief executive Brian Cook and outgoing president Frank Costa also made it clear that the Geelong hierarchy still see their team as premiership contenders.

Chris's identical twin, Brad, is coming off an impressive debut season as North Melbourne coach.

Brad has said several times that he would not relish coaching against his brother.

It's believed to be the first time in Australian sports history that twins coach against each other.

Chris and Brad, 34, made their names as fearsome members of the Brisbane powerhouse that won the 2001-03 premierships.

Chris played 215 senior games for Brisbane between 1994-2007 and the defender was a member of their 2001 and `02 premiership teams, but missed the 2003 grand final because of injury.

Scott became an assistant coach at Fremantle soon after his retirement as a player.

He was one of the final candidates a few weeks ago for the Port Adelaide senior coaching job, which eventually went to Matthew Primus.

His appointment will cap a tumultuous few weeks for the Cats.

They were furious with a controversial umpiring decision which cost them the qualifying final against St Kilda and Collingwood then thrashed them in the preliminary final.

Within days of their season ending, No.1 player Gary Ablett confirmed his defection to Gold Coast and Thompson dropped a bombshell when he quit, citing burnout.

There is ongoing speculation, so far unconfirmed, that Thompson will return to his original club Essendon as a mentor for their new coach James Hird.

The Cats were furious last week when assistant coach Brendan McCartney crossed to the Bombers and this prompted a meeting on Friday between Costa and Essendon chairman David Evans.

Costa said the meeting cleared the air between the two clubs.

Geelong are adamant this series of setbacks does not mark the end of an era for the dominant AFL team of the last four seasons.

"One of the decisions we have had to make is whether we see ourselves as a realistic chance of winning a premiership next year or implementing a plan that has (a premiership) three or four years down the track as its major aim," Cook said last week.

"We still believe that we can win a premiership next year. We know we have to improve.

"But at the same time we have to put in place strategies that make sure we're very strong in three or four years' time as well."

Costa said on Friday that the Cats were keen to confirm their new coach before he and Cook travel to Ireland to watch the international rules series.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP