AFL 2023: Behind Essendon’s win over Adelaide and the uprising under Brad Scott
Brad Scott told Essendon he was a developer of talent in 2022, seventeen rounds into his tenure, Scott has walked the walked, developing the Bombers into a serious finals side.
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Brad Scott made a presentation to Essendon’s most senior figures in a CBD office with a clear overriding theme.
After missing out on Alastair Clarkson, the Bombers zeroed in quickly on the man who helped North Melbourne punch above its weight for a decade, making two preliminary finals.
And president David Barham and footy boss Josh Mahoney were clearly struck by what they heard in that city conference room last September.
“I am a development coach,” Scott told them.
“I want to make all of the players better.”
Within two or three hours from Scott uttering those words, the decision was made. He was the man to spearhead a new dawn at Tullamarine.
And almost 10 months on from that key crossroad, there is an uprising at Essendon which has powered the team to within striking distance of its first finals win in almost 20 years.
On Sunday against Adelaide, the Bombers piled on 81 points to half time as jet midfielders Zach Merrett and Darcy Parish ran riot to set up a chance for Scott to topple his brother, Geelong’s Chris Scott, in the coaching battle for the first time since Round 4, 2015.
Brad Scott joked this week he wouldn’t have to worry about not taking his brother’s calls because “he doesn’t call me anyway”.
But on a serious note, there were never any bells and whistles on the new takeover plan at Tullamarine. Just an honesty. An intensity. And a clarity of message.
And for all of the statistics in football, the most important number at Tullamarine that became evident in the wake of the 18-point win against the Crows was 16.
That’s about the number of Essendon players in the best form of their careers in 2023. That’s the growth. The exact improvement that Scott was talking about when he pitched for the job.
To name a few playing the best footy of their lives, there is Andrew McGrath, Mason Redman, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Kyle Langford, Nic Martin, Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish and Sam Draper (pre-injury), Sam Durham, Jye Caldwell, Archie Perkins, Ben Hobbs and Jye Menzie, among others.
Not considering the unknown of Zach Reid, Nick Cox and Elijah Tsatas, three of the Bombers’ highest draft picks as part of the rebuild which is gathering quick pace.
The green growth was there for all to see on Sunday as Hobbs and Perkins stepped up again in the engine room and Parish hit targets inside forward 50m at will, including a dazzling second effort to spin out of traffic and set up Martin as part of the second-term onslaught.
Peter Wright got back to his impactful best deep forward, Wright’s overlap run on the outer wing is All-Australian calibre, Caldwell has had a break-out year and Martin looks like he could be anything.
Plus Hobbs and Perkins have skated past Dylan Shiel in the engine room at a rapid rate.
So what is so special about Scott?
What has been the key difference for a man who is one of the coach of the year contenders in his first season in charge?
The lid has been screwed on tight to cut out any unnecessary hype around the red and black this year, but an Essendon win over Geelong on Saturday night at GMHBA Stadium could be the club’s most significant regular season win since the James Hird days.
Former captain Dyson Heppell, who has played under five senior coaches at Essendon over his 13-year career, says he has never had more fun playing footy than this season.
And he is thriving so much, he might even play on again next season, who knows.
Importantly for Heppell, a clean slate on all the drama and pain of the past decade had been clearly drawn. Scotty brought freshness, enthusiasm, consistency and a clear plan.
“Scotty came in and really shifted the dynamic and direction of the club and for example, has been really super-supportive of me, and helped free myself up to love footy and do my thing,” Heppell said.
“So Scotty has this awesome balance of being really optimistic but also having that firm edge, and you can tell the guys really want to play for him.
“But there is also this side to him where he shows genuine care for his playing group.
“But he doesn’t let the small things slip, either, so he is quite a well-rounded coach.”
But the drive is also coming from the playing group who are desperate for success. Including Heppell, who has not played in a winning final.
Sometimes he lets his mind wander, but it quickly snaps back to the opportunity facing the club in the present moment.
“There is a want and a will to be good,” he said.
“Sometimes change can really galvanise a group. Coming off the back of what we went through last year, guys just didn’t want to be part of an environment where we were just playing mediocre footy.
“We all took ownership of our own performances and really had a look at the work we had to put in.
“So we have got guys on board the bus who are willing to put in the work and it becomes infectious.
“I still feel like we are improving throughout the weeks, we are training with purpose and intent and that is coming out in games.
“You play footy for those moments and I have tasted very little finals success in my career, if any. So it is exciting, but we just have to chip away and get ourselves in a position (to play finals).
“You want to be there, mate. You want to contend.”
And as the players sung the song once more on Sunday night in the Marvel Stadium change rooms, there was a clear buzz that is going to be very hard for Parish and Redman, the Bombers’ two out-of-contract free agents, to walk away from as the club eyes a history-making finals berth.
And Geelong at Geelong, in a way, is the ultimate test in that journey this season.
Tom Hawkins kicked a career-best eight goals on the Bombers last time without fullback Jayden Laverde, but they will be more prepared on Saturday night, even perhaps without one of their two best ruckmen Draper (injured) and Phillips (match review). Jordan Ridley has a sore knee.
Chris Scott once said he was unsure whether he would want his brother, Brad, back in the pressure-soaked environment of AFL coaching.
But the reality is in the second half of his first season back in the gig, Brad is thriving, and is one of the best coaches in the caper, along with Ross Lyon, Craig McRae and Ken Hinkley.
But Brad Scott won’t be swayed or distracted from his original mission at Essendon, finals or no finals this year.
They were pipped on the last kick of the game in the loss to Port Adelaide away last week, but showed a lot of maturity starting fast against Adelaide as part of a topsy-turvy year where, to be fair, it seems like anything could still happen.
“The competition is really tight and we have won some close games,” Scott said.
“So the results will be what they will be, we will just keep trying to keep focusing on improving those individual players and keep building the system.”
Brad Scott has a five win-nine loss record against his brother, including the 2014 six-point semi-final win over the Cats at the MCG. It has been a while between drinks on a win over the sibling.
And Essendon is far from being the finished product. In fact, that journey may have only started.
The supporter base which packed-out Marvel Stadium on Sunday has not really even seen key position player Reid and speedy slick wingman Tsatas yet, and it’s been two years since they saw Cox’s brilliant break-out season.
So there is plenty more growth in the list, as Scott said.
But as far as stepping stones go, Saturday night is a doozy for the red and black, and their in-synch new coach.
Injuries, MRO to test Bombers against Cats
– Nick Smart
Essendon is facing an immediate ruck crisis with big man Andrew Phillips set to come under MRO scrutiny for a high bump on Crow Reilly O’Brien in the dying seconds on Sunday.
The bump, in the final minute of Essendon’s strong win over Adelaide, did not leave O’Brien concussed, but it could still be enough for him to miss next weekend’s blockbuster against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.
“I saw it live and I was sort of commentating because we want our ruckmen to shepherd ... I haven’t looked at it in detail whether he got him high or not, but the impact didn’t look huge,” Essendon coach Brad Scott said.
“We’ll let the MRO take care of that.”
Scott said injured ruckman Sam Draper (hip) was unlikely to face Geelong, which would make the potential loss of Phillips even worse.
The Bombers may look to Nick Bryan for the mouth-watering meeting with the Cats on Saturday night.
There is also a wait on defender Jordan Ridley, who suffered a knee injury in the third term.
“He hyperextended his knee, which was pretty clear on the vision,” Scott said.
“In the coaching box we just assume he’s out, but unfortunately we didn’t activate our sub because our medical staff were pretty confident in it (the knee) structurally and Rids was really keen to give it a go.
“I think I asked at least once or maybe twice, ‘Are you sure?’ for obvious reasons, but you’ve got to take the advice of the experts.
“When you hyperextend your knee like that, there’s probably some bone bruising.
“He came out and as soon as we saw him hobbling, it’s just get him off and sub him out ... so we’ll go and get a scan on that, and we can’t give any definitive diagnosis at the moment.
“The fact they thought he was structurally OK and Rids felt like he wanted to give it a go does give you some confidence, but there’s no guarantees until we get that scanned.”
In better news, Scott believed Mason Redman was OK despite a hamstring issue.
“It was a funny one, we were trying to get him off to assess his hamstring but he kept running and spreading and flying for marks.
“I don’t know if you guys have ever done a hamstring, but I couldn’t do that when I did one.
“The explanation to me is it was kind of hamstring tendinitis, not a muscle thing.
“I spoke to Red after the game and he feels fine ... so he should be fine.”
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