Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

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Brad Scott has already changed Essendon. The Bombers will play a different brand that emphasises defensive actions, deploy players in new roles and have more than doubled the size of their development coaching group.
Scott has been given enormous clout within the Hangar, and Essendon insiders say his impact on the players has been profound.
Brad Scott has had a big impact as he reshapes Essendon.

Brad Scott has had a big impact as he reshapes Essendon.CREDIT:ARTWORK: JAMIE BROWN
If the Bombers liked his predecessor Ben Rutten – who handled his brutal exit with grace and class – Scott, a 10-year coach at North Melbourne with a further three years in a senior role at AFL headquarters, carries more authority than the less seasoned “Truck”.
The players, who are said to view the new coach with just a touch of trepidation, are eager to please.

Scott inherited the front line of his assistant coaching team and also a conditioning group. Some changes – such as the beefing up of development – reflect Essendon’s needs, in that the Bombers remain bottom four for experience.
The following have been five key stories of Essendon’s pre-season under Scott.

1. Game style and coaching method​

As rival club track watchers have observed and Essendon officials confirm, Scott has placed great store on protecting a defence that wasn’t afforded protection in 2022, when opponents were able to move the footy with oft-embarrassing ease over the length of the field. Essendon were 18th for defending transition.
To avoid a repetition of 2022’s most egregious failing, the Scott Bombers will be attempting to play more of a turnover game, keeping the footy in their attacking territory and seeking repeat forward entries. They want to force more turnovers in the midfield and score from them.

Reckoning there was too much unrewarded running last year, the Dons are focused on a revamped structure – where players are stationed – rather than simply saying “run harder both ways”. If Scott is overseeing the shift, Blake Caracella, as defensive coach, has been handed this paramount portfolio.
That undersized Jayden Laverde will still be asked to man leviathan forwards such as Tom Hawkins and Tom Lynch underscores the need for protective measures.

Scott’s man-management philosophy will be to focus on players’ strengths, what they can do rather than what they can’t.
That said, if Darcy Parish is better at winning the ball than running back, there will be minimum standards and a balance between playing to one’s strengths and team imperatives.

2. New roles for Heppell, McGrath, Caldwell​

Whether Dyson Hepppell continues on as skipper, as Scott suggested likely, the veteran has been re-deployed from half-back to the wing, where Scott wants the veteran’s experience.
Andy McGrath, forced to play midfield last year more often due to injuries, will return to a running half-back role that seems to suit him.
Jye Caldwell has been used as a midfield tagger/run-with player in the match simulations and is slated to share that role with Carlton recruit Will Setterfield, who can man bigger opposition guns.


3. A fresh set of eyes on fitness and injury​

Scott has brought in Peter Blanche, the ex-Brisbane Lions conditioning man who worked at Essendon until 2017, to act as a consultant in the conditioning/high-performance area.
While Blanche is only part-time, he’s been hired to provide a fresh perspective on the Essendon conditioning program and to mentor staff.
Essendon have had a number of injuries in pre-season, especially to talls Peter Wright (calf), Sam Weideman (quad), James Stewart, Nik Cox (back) and Zach Reid (back), with Jake Stringer (leg) also interrupted slightly.
Happily, Wright, Weideman and Stringer are recovered and will play against Gold Coast next week.

4. Zach Reid’s injury timeline and importance​

Few players have more riding on their shoulders – and on Essendon’s ability to get him on the park – than third-year tall defender Zach Reid; there is an urgent need to locate and/or develop a bona-fide tall defender given Laverde et al lack size.
Indeed, it’s arguable that Reid is the most crucial missing piece in the Essendon mosaic, the 200-centimetre-tall back having been drafted in 2020 to redress a long-term need.

Talent unquestioned, to date, Reid’s body has been uncooperative. In this pre-season, he’s been grounded with back stress fractures and will not resume playing until probably the first month. His long-term value is such that the Bombers and Scott are handling Reid with care, knowing that he should be around for another decade, if all goes well. Cox has had a similar injury and is a little more advanced in his recovery.

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5. The development agenda​

The Bombers have increased their development coaching ranks from two-and-a-half to five-and-a-half. Ex-Magpie premiership player Travis Cloke, beloved ex-Essendon key back Michael Hurley and Scott’s resilient and redoubtable former tagger at North, Ben Jacobs, have been added to the development coaching brigade.
AFLW senior coach Natalie Wood will assist in development of the AFL squad, too. Brent Stanton has been upgraded to full-time and Cam Roberts will head up the development operation.
Scott has inherited a contracted and well-credentialed cohort of line coaches in Daniel Giansiracusa, Caracella, Dale Tapping, with the experienced Leigh Tudor coaching the VFL.

Jacobs will add support in coaching the mids, while Cloke will assist the forwards and Hurley the defenders.
Essendon will be judged externally not only on wins and losses, but on the growth/development of players, whether the game plan is effective and whether they can avoid 2022’s blowouts.
How they lose will matter as much as how often they win.
Click to expand...
 

2. New roles for Heppell, McGrath, Caldwell​

Whether Dyson Hepppell continues on as skipper, as Scott suggested likely, the veteran has been re-deployed from half-back to the wing, where Scott wants the veteran’s experience.
Andy McGrath, forced to play midfield last year more often due to injuries, will return to a running half-back role that seems to suit him.
Jye Caldwell has been used as a midfield tagger/run-with player in the match simulations and is slated to share that role with Carlton recruit Will Setterfield, who can man bigger opposition guns.
Click to expand...

Those are the roles they played for the second half of last year, they're not new roles.
 

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Peter Blanche fixed Daniher at the Lions when we couldn't so hopefully he'll be a good pick up. :)
 
Change the name from Brad Scott to Ben Rutten and its the same article from 2-3 years ago

Proof will be in the pudding and more so how we play year 1 and then results year 2
 
Last edited:
boncer34 said:
Peter Blanche fixed Daniher at the Lions when we couldn't so hopefully he'll be a good pick up. :)
Click to expand...
Actually the bloke from Ireland fixed Daniher and Stewart as far as groin issues go. We just handed him over with a program already in place for him to get back playing .

www.afl.com.au

Joe jets to Ireland to see groin expert, new Don injures knee

Star Bomber off to Ireland to see groin expert, while a recruit has been cleared of serious damage to his knee
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au
 
www.afl.com.au

Second time's a charm? Why Scott's ready as ever to tackle top job

As Brad Scott prepares to begin his second stint as coach, this time at Essendon, he says he has a much better understanding of what to expect in the role
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au


Second time's a charm? Why Scott's ready as ever to tackle top job​

As Brad Scott prepares to begin his second stint as coach, this time at Essendon, he says he has a much better understanding of what to expect in the role
 
I talked to Andy about where he plays his best footy and I went in with an open mind ... We haven’t looked at the team and said 'We've got weaknesses in this part of the ground so we'll move players into that spot'.
Click to expand...

That's not the Essendon way.
 

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I Remember Bluey said:
www.afl.com.au

Second time's a charm? Why Scott's ready as ever to tackle top job

As Brad Scott prepares to begin his second stint as coach, this time at Essendon, he says he has a much better understanding of what to expect in the role
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au


Second time's a charm? Why Scott's ready as ever to tackle top job​

As Brad Scott prepares to begin his second stint as coach, this time at Essendon, he says he has a much better understanding of what to expect in the role
Click to expand...



Fluff is fluff.

Sorting out the defensive transition is better.

Now, I understand the basic principles cannot be built on. They are so different club to club.

Do we have to see what it looks like in 2025? Or has Brad actually learned something I'm supposed to give a shit about?
 
Last edited:
Ayrton Wooley has given us another contender for longest article ever posted on the Essendon website;
www.essendonfc.com.au

Part one: Inside Essendon's new era

Journalist Ayrton Woolley is given an access all-areas pass to The NEC Hangar as life under Brad Scott ramps up.
www.essendonfc.com.au www.essendonfc.com.au

These bits are about the coach particularly, looks like he got asked a couple interesting questions about his approach and some all access clues as well.

Quote 1

“The myth in modern footy is that players can’t take criticism, or can’t take feedback,” Brad Scott muses.

“The controlled spray if you like, there’s still a place for it. But I could count on one hand the amount of times over a number of years you actually do it.”

Despite a sometimes-fearsome reputation built during his decade at North Melbourne, in reality, life under Scott inside the NEC Hangar is much more measured, much more calculated.

“That doesn’t mean they don’t get hit between the eyes, but I like to back it up with facts. Don’t give the player an opinion ‘this is what I think’. Back it up with evidence.”

Quote 2

With the meeting already lengthy, the tactical talk is short and sharp. Scott is just as punchy when he leaves the group with his final thoughts. He has a single ‘edit’ from match simulation a few days earlier - a piece of vision captured by the four elevated cameras around the training ground at the Hangar, complemented by drone footage.

Scott runs through the vision three or four times, emphasising something different with every click of his remote.

By now there’s enough circles and lines to put the old Channel Nine cricket telestrator to shame.

Scott chose the vision because there are positives in both ball movement and positioning for the attacking team, and areas of improvement for how they should be setting up to avoid being burnt on the rebound, something which cost the Bombers dearly last season.

But above all else, it’s kept simple.

“Less is more on that front,” Scott said.

“It’s not about me feeling comfortable that I’ve ticked all the boxes and covered everything, it’s ultimately important what they retain.”

It’s that ability to highlight only the most important piece of information that has really resonated with the playing group.

“He doesn’t overtalk,” says Mason Redman. “But, with his 10 or 11 years of coaching experience, when he does, you listen.”

Quote 3

Back in the relative calm of the football department, Brad Scott’s office is a revolving door of players seeking reassurance and feedback.

While the coaches have their own meeting scheduled for 3pm, Scott says if they need to shift it back they will.

“We’ll push it back to four, and, if there are still players everywhere, we’ll push it back to five. It means sometimes our workday starts at five. When the players are here, the coaches are available for them,” Scott stresses.

It’s a coaching style that’s been shaped across his time firstly as an assistant at Collingwood, then as senior coach at North Melbourne, before his brief stint as General Manager of Football at the AFL.

“When you first start as a coach you try to be all things to all people, and you think ‘I’ve very much got to be in control of everything’.”

But now his approach is more refined.

“One of our focuses here has been role clarity and clarity of what we’re trying to do. I say to the players all the time, there are lots of different ways to play the game and one’s not necessarily right and the other is not necessarily wrong.

“I saw Mick Malthouse, who was a big influence on me, and Leigh Matthews, who was a really big influence on me over a long period of time. They’re very different coaches and they approach it very differently in a lot of ways. The things we think are really valuable, other teams might have a completely different way of doing things.

“It’s when you get caught in between you get in a bit of trouble.”
 
andleanback said:
Where did he specifically say that
Click to expand...

I mean, there’s only two things you could infer from ‘he doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, you listen’

One is that Worsfold and Rutten said way too much, and that doesn’t seem likely given Worsfold was a black hole and Rutten was often criticised for not saying or doing enough, or that what was said didn’t carry enough wait to engage in some good old fashioned active listening.
 
Zach Package said:
I mean, there’s only two things you could infer from ‘he doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, you listen’

One is that Worsfold and Rutten said way too much, and that doesn’t seem likely given Worsfold was a black hole and Rutten was often criticised for not saying or doing enough, or that what was said didn’t carry enough wait to engage in some good old fashioned active listening.
Click to expand...
Sometimes when things are going bad there is too much info going around, everyone has an opinion if you like. Then when nothing is working on the field the players stop listening.

This is exactly why we needed a headstrong coach that had experience, players listen.

I thought Worsfold would be that but wasn't the case. At this stage the players are on board with Scott, time will tell.
 
Zach Package said:
I mean, there’s only two things you could infer from ‘he doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, you listen’

One is that Worsfold and Rutten said way too much, and that doesn’t seem likely given Worsfold was a black hole and Rutten was often criticised for not saying or doing enough, or that what was said didn’t carry enough wait to engage in some good old fashioned active listening.
Click to expand...

Could be an issue where Rutten (and maybe Worsfold) used more words to explain things than Scott does. The ability to be concise is a skill, and football players typically aren't a bunch you'd expect to be able to take in long-winded explanations and sentences if we're honest.
 
if you read most things about our era under Truck, there was a lot about his message and the playing group not getting it

I'm always wary of an assistant who comes from a winning culture and how much they contributed to that vs. looking better because the club they came from was firing on all cylinders.

One of the reasons i like Scott is he a) took an under resourced Roos to 2 prelims & b) has not come from a team where someone else's fingerprints are all over it.
Much like his brother as well, he has an ability to wade through the BS with concise & to the point messages. Something both the playing group and wider club should benefit from.
 
citizen-erased said:
if you read most things about our era under Truck, there was a lot about his message and the playing group not getting it

I'm always wary of an assistant who comes from a winning culture and how much they contributed to that vs. looking better because the club they came from was firing on all cylinders.

One of the reasons i like Scott is he a) took an under resourced Roos to 2 prelims & b) has not come from a team where someone else's fingerprints are all over it.
Much like his brother as well, he has an ability to wade through the BS with concise & to the point messages. Something both the playing group and wider club should benefit from.
Click to expand...

There's certainly a difference between being a good assistant and a good head coach. By all accounts Rhys Shaw was a great assistant, but a horrible head coach because of all the other things the job required.

Being able to tie together all the line coaches demands in to a coherent message and sell that message effectively to the playing group is a key part of what Scott needs to do, as it seems Truck had a good football mind but couldn't tie it all together in a way that the players understood and would execute.
 
Zach Package said:
I mean, there’s only two things you could infer from ‘he doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, you listen’

One is that Worsfold and Rutten said way too much, and that doesn’t seem likely given Worsfold was a black hole and Rutten was often criticised for not saying or doing enough, or that what was said didn’t carry enough wait to engage in some good old fashioned active listening.
Click to expand...
From what else has been said, Truck was quite hands on, running around on the field during training supervising drills. There’s photos of Worsfold doing the same. By virtue of that they’d be communicating directly with players quite a lot, so it becomes things you’ve heard before/background noise.

With the expanded footy department having so many coaches, Scott is really more of a head coach. Gia and Cara run the drills and Scott doesn’t talk to the players directly a lot, when he does he has had time to plan what he is going to say (and relay it to the other coaches so everyone is on the same page with the same message).

I think “active listening” is probably the right phrase. I don’t think he was ignoring the coaches before, but hearing without really listening and internalising the message is easy enough to do when you’re getting a lot of feedback all the time.

Creates a different sort of culture and hierarchy.
 

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Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

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