Chris Scott used Joel Selwood's AFL milestone to rally his Geelong players and inspire their final-quarter fightback in the narrow AFL win over Collingwood.
In his 227th game as Cats skipper on Saturday night, Selwood overtook Carlton legend Stephen Kernahan as the longest-serving captain in league history.
The 33-year-old champion was influential with 22 disposals and five clearances but was jeered by Magpies fans throughout the MCG contest.
Geelong conceded nine goals in the third quarter and trailed by 30 points at the final change before kicking seven unanswered majors in the last term to win 16.8 (104) to 13.13 (91).
Scott raised Selwood's record in his three-quarter time address as he urged his players to lift themselves off the canvas.
"Hopefully, it was channelled the right way," Scott said.
"Joel didn't want it to be all about him but it's a record that's very hard to achieve and will be very hard to chase down.
"It was a significant milestone and one that we should recognise."
Collingwood supporters gave their biggest roar of the night when Selwood was caught in possession deep in defence by Oliver Henry, gifting the Pies a goal during their third-quarter blitz.
Those fans were seemingly incensed by a first-quarter incident involving Selwood and young Magpies forward Jack Ginnivan, and made their feelings clear to the Geelong captain.
Scott played a straight bat to questions about the jeering.
"Even if I had an opinion, I wouldn't give it," he said.
"This is a stretch, but after two and a half years of a pandemic, I think people are a bit sick of being told what to do.
"I'm not going to start."
But defender Zach Tuohy said the targeting of teammate Selwood on both sides of the fence made the Cats' win even sweeter.
"There was a hell of a lot of carry-on from them at certain stages so it was nice to see the stands emptying with five minutes to go after all the trouble we were getting on the sidelines," Tuohy told the Nine Network.
"Footy is pretty combative at the best of times and there's a trend, to be fair it's in world sport, where the better the player you are, the more you get targeted.
"I didn't faze Joel and it didn't really faze us, it just made the win a hell of a lot sweeter."
Esava Ratugolea was substituted out of the match with an ankle injury and the Cats also sent experienced ruck recruit Jonathon Ceglar for scans on a foot injury suffered in the earlier VFL fixture.
Sam Menegola suffered a head knock on his return from knee surgery in the same VFL game and will spend at least 12 days on the sidelines under concussion protocols.
