Brad Scott: From paper pusher to lead candidate in AFL’s most high-profile roles

According to key AFL figures, Brad Scott can walk into the AFL football operations position - vacated by Steve Hocking - if he wants it.

Brad Scott after coaching his final game for North Melbourne. Picture: Hamish Blair

David King left himself as vulnerable as a week-old gazelle stalked by a lion on the desert plains as Brad Scott raced onto Marvel Stadium.

It was Scott’s last game as North Melbourne coach and Fox Footy’s King chose the worst possible observation point - right between the coach and his player huddle.

King’s criticism of Scott as a North Melbourne “visitor” saw the North Melbourne coach clip the premiership player with his shoulder, then follow up an expletive laden spray.

It was a spray that invoked Olympic backstroker Kaylee McKeown’s infamous victory speech and finished off with the nickname of another of our backstroking hero Emily Seebohm.

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Brad Scott made a beeline towards David King. Picture: Fox Footy

Then after the latest example of his combustible nature and sheer competitive spirit, Scott effectively vanished from the AFL’s consciousness.

So how is that 26 months later, AFL paper pusher Scott has the rails run on two of the most high-profile roles in sport?

AFL figures believe Scott will be the new AFL football operations boss if he wants the job.

The only curve-ball?

He would be expected to be in the final three candidates if he did officially inform Collingwood he was a contender for the Magpies’ coaching job.

The Herald Sun understands senior confidantes within the AFL have urged him to at least explore the interview process with Collingwood as an itch he likely needs to scratch.

Worse case scenario, he misses out and comes back to apply for an AFL job — vacated by Steve Hocking — the league hopes to be filled by Grand Final day.

So why is Scott in the box seat after less than two seasons as the AFL’s new competition evolution manager and then Head of AFL Victoria?

Because Scott is so much more than the former “Kray brother” who couldn’t pass up a scrap with King and numerous opponents in his two-premiership, 168-game career with Hawthorn and Brisbane.

His football resume is a rare thing – real intelligence, an exceptional educator, capable of big-picture thinking and the rat cunning that has got him so far in football.

As one former Roos staffer says of a coach who coaxed two preliminary finals from a mediocre list with salary cap limitations: “He knows how to fix something that is broken”.

Roos club legend and former board member Glenn Archer says, at 45 years of age Scott has so much more to give.

“He would be a perfect fit there. I reckon the second coming of a coach can be better than the first,” he told the Herald Sun.

“He is ultra smart. He’s got an extreme level of intelligence, he got North to two prelims and looking back on the list it was not ultra-strong, and so he can over-achieve with a list.

“Collingwood would be a really good fit for him. He was going on 10 years at North Melbourne and he started when he was 33. He was very young. And he was looking for a break so I reckon with what he has learned in what was a rollercoaster at North Melbourne, he would be ready to get back into it.”

So which job would Scott choose if he had the pick of them?

Geelong coach Chris Scott said in April he hoped Brad didn’t return to coaching because “it’s not a very good job to be honest”.

But in reality, if you want the hardest job in footy it is the one Hocking has just given up.

Steve Hocking speaks as AFL football operations boss. Picture: Erik Anderson

Hocking is described by one AFL official as “the hardest working executive I have ever seen”, admitting upon his exit “it has felt like dog years in the past couple of years, to be honest”.

Every waking moment was spent working on a portfolio that includes football, rules, talent, umpiring, tribunal and almost every emotive topic in the league.

Covid planning turned 80-hour weeks into what was literally a 24/7 job.

It is why highly rated club CEOs such as Tom Harley (Sydney), Ameet Bains (Western Bulldogs) and Xavier Campbell (Essendon) would only do the job if they saw it as a stepping stone to AFL chief executive.

With such a punishing workload why give up highly paid CEO roles to burn out within years unless they had their eyes on a greater prize?

Port Adelaide football boss Chris Davies has declined the AFL’s overtures but isn’t out of the AFL’s plans, while West Coast’s Craig Vozzo would be a contender but is also on the club CEO track.

Rob Auld speaks about the launch of the Tasmanian Football Foundation Picture: Luke Bowden

Hocking has pushed splitting the job into two and it is why AFL executive Rob Auld — who has enjoyed a meteoric rise from salesman to AFL Tasmania CEO to the league headquarters — could end up with some portfolio areas that makes the role more manageable for Scott.

For an AFL hierarchy that is more aware than ever about the boys’ club perception after Michael Warner’s piercing examination, Scott is perfect – footy star, club coach, instant cred. without being an AFL insider.

When asked of the best decision for Scott, Archer said: “It’s a personal choice. I think he’s a coach at heart. They all are, aren’t they? Once they have done it, it’s in them.”

Former premiership teammate Jason Akermanis says Scott cannot lose even if he applies for the Collingwood role that has Don Pyke as a strong favourite and misses out.

“If he went to Collingwood from North Melbourne it would be going from wearing eight hats to one hat,” he said yesterday.

“I have no doubt with him considering his family pressure-wise the option would be not to be a senior coach again but knowing Brad and his thirst for competition, as much as he might like the lesser (AFL) role, when push comes to shove he will want to run the show.

“Leigh Matthews would say there is nothing like the exhilaration of your team winning.

“Footy has way more ups and downs but there is more exhilaration to the human condition. “And there are only one or two blokes in Australia that have the luxury of both jobs.

“It’s a beautiful situation. If you don’t win gold, you get silver or bronze. He is so well situated.”

Originally published as Brad Scott: From paper pusher to lead candidate in AFL’s most high-profile roles