Geelong admit they are unsure whether unsuccessful senior coaching applicant Brenton Sanderson is considering his future at the AFL club.

The Cats want the current assistant coach to stay and work under new coach Chris Scott.

Sanderson, former Cat and current Gold Coast assistant Ken Hinkley, plus an unnamed fourth applicant, were in the final running for the job along with Scott.

The unsuccessful applicants received the bad news over the weekend, before Scott's appointment was confirmed on Monday morning in a packed media conference at the club.

Chief executive Brian Cook said any of "the last three" could have won the job.

He said Sanderson took the news professionally, but hard.

"We're hoping that he gets over that and he remains an integral part of this club for some time," Cook said.

"He is disappointed, I don't know if he's weighing it (his future) up.

"One of the toughest thing in a football administrator's career is when you have to tell people tough news like that, we did that on Saturday morning, it wasn't easy.

"Brenton was fantastic but very disappointed - he's a mature guy, he's lived and breathed Geelong.

"We want this guy badly, we want Brenton to stay - if he's listening in, come on back, make a decision quickly."

Cook said Sanderson, who is on leave, had taken on added responsibility this year and done "a tremendous job".

The Cats boss also emphasised that Scott, who has a three-year contract, was a long-term appointment.

"He's a person who we think is a future type of coach - a coach-manager, that's the way we're heading," Cook said.

"The way Chris has delegated his responsibilities at Fremantle and empowers people is probably the way to go for us, they were main characteristics of why we appointed Chris.

"The appointment of Chris is not simply about 2011, it's also about 2015."

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