Brad Scott explains ‘helpless’ Essendon’s phone drama during Anzac Day loss to Collingwood

Brad Scott says “as helpless as I have felt in a quarter of footy” when the MCG phones went down on Anzac Day. This is what happened and how the coaches responded.

Essendon coach Brad Scott says he has never felt as “helpless” as he did when communications at the MCG went down during the third quarter on Friday.

Telecommunication between the coaches’ box and the interchange failed during the third quarter as the Bombers and Collingwood traded blows in the driving rain.

It’s believed an additional piece of equipment was left out in the downpour and led to the brief communications outage.

The Bombers cut the Magpies’ lead and eventually hit the front in the third quarter but Scott spent the term up and down the stairs trying to communicate with his players.

“It was pretty frustrating, that was as helpless as I have felt in a quarter of footy when we can’t communicate to the bench,” Scott said.

“Every time I went to go down to the bench they said ‘it’s back on’, then it came back off, we just couldn’t work out what was going on.”

The Magpies responded to the Bombers and telephone challenges with 10 of the next 12 goals to run out 41-point winners.

Brad Scott says he was ‘helpless’ when Essendon’s communications went down at the MCG.

Scott says Collingwood’s on-field experience in that moment “has a lot” to do with the end result.

“I think it has a lot and full credit to Collingwood’s experience,” he said.

“I don’t know how many Anzac Days this is for Pendles but he just looks like he did when he first came in as an 18, 19-year-old, very composed.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to play on this day for a great host of reasons, but to play against a very, very experienced side.

“To be 27 points down, challenge, get back in front, show some character, fell away at the end but we will learn our lessons.

“They were a little bit more polished, had a bit more class and certainly had more experience.”

Brad Scott was full of praise for Scott Pendlebury’s impact.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae, who typically coaches from the bench as is, viewed the phone outage as a chance to hand full responsibility to his players.

“I just said ‘be calm’, when you get a group that’s performing you’ve got to get out of the way sometimes,” McRae said.

“I know the great Leigh Matthews taught me that way back, ‘the big snowball’ he used to call it, rolling down the hill getting bigger with momentum, get out of the way of it.

“I have certainly been trusting these guys, they know what to do in the moments, so quite often when that happens I just say ‘relax, we’re OK, let the players be’.

“We give them the keys and they drive the car really well at the moment.”

McRae was told of Scott’s envy towards Collingwood’s experience and is pleased the Magpies’ raft of veterans are finally being spun as a positive.

“It’s nice to speak of our experience as a good thing, it certainly helps, it’s Pendles’ 18th Anzac Day, that’s got to help somewhere, doesn’t it?” he laughed.

“We had six that hadn’t played, so it’s all good new experiences and we’re looking for more shared experiences – we’re on a journey here.”

Scott shut down questions about whether he would issue a please explain to the AFL or MCC about the phone outage, saying there are “no excuses” for the loss.

Originally published as Brad Scott explains ‘helpless’ Essendon’s phone drama during Anzac Day loss to Collingwood