Essendon senior coach Brad Scott says the Bombers have been “reset” as a club over the past two years on his watch and has detailed how their game style will change in 2025.
In an interview with this masthead, Scott said the Bombers had a greater deficit with player leadership than talent, but that the culture had changed significantly within the team in terms of professional standards and commitment.
Brad Scott says there’s been a change of attitude at Essendon.Credit: Getty Images
He said the Bombers aspired to play finals in a competition in which the margins between teams were small. Although this evenness created opportunities – evident in Hawthorn’s rise to finals after 0-5 start last year – Scott said he would not deviate from his longer-range plan aimed at winning finals and contending consistently.
“In terms of what’s different, there’s a real sense that the club has been reset, and it has taken two years to reset it, on- but off-field decisions, combined with list changes, it’s a new place,” said the senior coach, who is entering his third season at a club that has spent two decades without contending.
Scott said the shift in attitude in the playing group was shown by the way players reacted to the toil undertaken by young midfielder Elijah Tsatas to improve his problematic kicking.
He said skipper Zach Merrett, Andy McGrath and Kyle Langford were among the players who set the standards required at the start of his coaching tenure.
“But they were the minority rather than the majority,” Scott said. “That’s where it feels different. That’s the norm now. It’s not the exception, right across the board.”
Asked how this change could be measured, a frank Scott said: “The work that Elijah Tsatas puts into his program, over and above what is baseline standard for an AFL player, that is now celebrated not ridiculed.”
Scott said the game style would shift, as the Bombers needed “more dynamic ball movement” to score from their forward entries, noting they improved in the contest and defensively in 2024, but were inefficient.
“In 2023, we were quite efficient with our scoring, but we didn’t get it in there enough. Last year we got it in there almost as much as anyone, but we didn’t score well enough,” he said.
Demanding Essendon skipper Zach Merrett has been working on leadership.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“I think we made massive steps forward in the contest, in defending, but we just didn’t have the class and polish to finish our work. Yeah, efficiency has been a bit of a mantra for us.
“We’ve got to be more dynamic in the way that we move the ball forward of centre.”
Scott explained that the talented Nate Caddy and Kyle Langford were not key position size, and he said Peter Wright was more of a lead-up tall forward, in the style of ex-Kangaroos and Demons goalkicker Ben Brown, than a traditional key position target, so he said the Bombers needed “dynamic” ball movement in a mobile forward line.
Exciting recruit Isaac Kako is likely to form part of that attack, with Scott confirming he expected the dynamo to debut in the opening round against Gold Coast.
The coach said the team focus had been “on leadership, culture and development”, but he would not be tied down to a prediction or expectation of what the Bombers would achieve this year, despite sharing the goal of playing finals with “16 or 17 clubs.”
“I sort of understand that everyone wants to get a prediction, but I just think I’m not in the prediction game,” said the Bombers’ coach, whose team enters this season viewed externally as a non-contender with little prospect of reaching the top four.
“There would be 16 or 17 clubs that would say we’re capable of doing that (finals), at our best, if things go way and a few things don’t go other clubs’ way.
“Our aspiration is to get back to playing finals as soon as possible.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do on our leadership capability,” Scott said. Was this a greater issue than talent? “Yeah I think so.”
He said the leadership gap existed despite the “exceptional” leadership of previous skippers Dyson Heppell and Jobe Watson in the face of the ASADA saga.
Scott also revealed:
• That talented midfielder Archie Perkins, who has not yet reached his potential, was slated to take some of Jake Stringer’s role in the forward line. “Jake sort of played the role that Archie’s best at … he (Perkins) is a very good midfielder who can play forward.” Although Perkins is not a goalkicker in Stringer’s league, he is viewed as more adept at applying pressure.
• That the Bombers held an interest, like other clubs, in North Melbourne free agent Luke Davies-Uniacke but had not made him an offer. Asked if he had met Davies-Uniacke, whom he coached at North, Scott said: “in terms of formal contact, no”, adding “I speak informally to players I’ve coached.” He said North had made “a compelling offer” to the free agent.
• That demanding skipper Zach Merrett was working on his leadership and on his method for handling teammates. Scott, Merrett and McGrath went to the United States over summer, in part to meet leadership expert Sam Walker, who worked with the Los Angeles Rams and wrote The Captain’s Class, a book on leadership within team dynasties.
“Zach just has this fierce desire and determination to win, that can – if not channelled in the right way, can be detrimental to your teammates because … you have unrealistic demands of what they can achieve,” Scott said.
“I think with Zach it’s keeping the fierce desire to win and learning how to lead different personalities, different types of players … it’s not a cookie-cutter one size fits-all approach.”
Essendon forwards Jade Gresham, Kyle Langford and Isaac Kako.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Scott saw parallels between Merrett and demanding ex-Collingwood champion and coach Nathan Buckley, (Scott coached at Collingwood in 2007, Buckley’s final season) who had stellar standards and became a strong leader and coach.
“I saw Nathan develop in that area over time … I thought he was a fantastic leader at Collingwood.”
Merrett’s surprising close friendship with departed forward Stringer was explained thus: “If he thinks you’re going to help the team win, Zach will invest in you. Jake Stringer’s a match-winner.”
Scott also said the approach to Merrett, via his management, from St Kilda last year was “a non-issue” to him, and he had not spoken to his captain about it.
Essendon skipper Zach Merrett in action, and coach Brad Scott (inset).Credit: Getty Images
The coach also revealed:
• The Bombers are seeking A-grade talent, rather than recruiting for specific positional needs, when they scout other clubs. “We’re in a position where we’re just looking for potential A-grade players who can play for us for a long period of time.”
• Defenders Mason Redman and McGrath would both be deployed in centre bounces occasionally. “Centre bounce is almost special teams now,” said Scott. Redman “has done it really effectively in the pre-season.”
• Although he was “horrified” by the standards he found at Tullamarine, this was due to the circumstances of the club showing leniency to players mistreated during the supplements saga. “That’s in no way, shape or form a reflection on previous people at the club,” he said.
• Essendon’s support, despite two decades out of contention, was the envy of rival clubs. But short-term frustration shouldn’t destabilise the club. “I know, through the turmoil Essendon has been through, it is a point of jealousy among the rest of the competition that our club is still a really strong club with a massive supporter base, and if we all stick together, it’s really exciting what we can create,” he said. “But if we allow our short-term frustration to destabilise the club, it’s going to make it so much harder to get what we all want.”
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