AFL 2023: Mason Redman opens up on his future, Brad Scott and life at the Bombers
Mason Redman is the Bombers’ ignition point, and the man known as “Red Dog” says he doesn’t take his role down back for granted. The Essendon defender sits down with Glenn McFarlane.
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Every team needs an ignition point … and for Essendon, the man affectionately known as “Red Dog” plays almost like a redhead matchstick that sparks his team.
Mason Redman’s importance to the Bombers – and to his teammates – isn’t solely confined to his role as one of the game’s most reliable intercept defenders in a backline slowly rebuilding its profile and in a team fighting to become more competitive.
He also does it with his voice, his encouragement, his edge, and his mannerisms that can trigger a response in his teammates, and from the fans in the stands.
It’s a strength that can’t always be measured on the stats sheet, even though Champion Data has Redman tracking this year at above average for disposals, contested possessions, metres gained and intercept marks, as well as elite for intercept possessions.
The 25-year-old doesn’t take his spruiking role in the team for granted: “I have learnt that when I am at my best, I am being outward as a teammate. That’s being loud, that’s being instructive, and not only keeping myself in the game, but trying to keep my teammates in the game. That’s when I am at my best personally.”
It’s a role he has accepted with relish, and the Bombers’ barometer will be at it again in the King’s Birthday Eve clash with Carlton at the MCG on Sunday night before an expected 75,000-plus crowd.
“I’m sure this game will build over time with the size of these two clubs,” he said of the fixture both clubs are keen to own in the coming years. “Essendon has a lot of marquee games, thanks to Sheeds (Kevin Sheedy).”
“As a young fellow growing up (in Millicent, near Mount Gambier in South Australia), you always want to play in the big games, and I talk to the other players as well. It’s awesome to be standing out there at the start of those games, for the ceremonies for Dreamtime and Anzac Day, and the games are almost the side pieces to the meaning behind it all.”
The bonus of playing in those big marquee games is something that Essendon fans are hoping will resonate with the popular defender, who is about to become a free agent at the end of the season and who has attracted strong and lucrative interest from Adelaide.
The Bombers currently sit third on average attendances this season, and could go to No. 2 after Sunday night.
It’s clearly part of his consideration as Redman mulls over his future, with the man himself saying he was always going to take his time with this contract as he wanted to see what the club’s evolution would be under new coach Brad Scott.
He has been impressed with Scott and the new game plan, with Essendon sitting at 7-5 on the win-loss ledger, with the club having already won as many games as last year.
He hasn’t yet made a decision on his future, but stressed he is enjoying his footy right now.
“The wins help, of course,” he said. “But I just think the playing relationships are really building on the field and you really know what you are going to get from your teammates.”
“Brad is big on development and on the weekly process. Even when we lost those four games in a row three or four weeks ago, the club was no different to what it is now. “
He enjoys working with his fellow backmen, saying they have a collective desire to be the best defensive unit in the league.
“I’m really enjoying going out there and building a good partnership with Andy McGrath and Jordan Ridley, and Jayden Laverde, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher,” he said.
“Other than Andy, we all came through the reserves when we first started our careers. I really love going out with those guys and we hope to build one of the best back lines in the comp. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it is something we are striving towards.”
It helps when some of those in the Essendon backline are among his best mates.
“For me, personally, I think probably my three closest mates at the club are Andy, ‘Rids’ and Jayden, so to have those guys around me, you are able to give and receive feedback easily and you know it is coming from the right place.
“That is something we’ve had to learn over time that if a teammate is giving feedback, it is not personal, it is so the team can get better and the broader group is a lot better with that.”
He’s a tough competitor, but Redman also showed his sportsmanship last week against North Melbourne when he motioned to trainers and the umpire that Hugh Greenwood had been injured after accidentally colliding with his quad.
“I like to think I play hard but fair,” he said. “I have a tendency to get that white line fever and get involved in some hustle and bustle. But I knew pretty quick he (Greenwood) was in a bad way.”
Redman has been one of the best Essendon players this season, following on from a 2022 season where he finished fourth in last year’s best and fairest, just narrowly missing out on third place.
He was in consideration when the Bombers were sorting through the candidates as the captaincy replacement for Dyson Heppell, before Essendon ultimately went with Zach Merrett as skipper and McGrath as his deputy.
“First and foremost what I think about going into a game is how I can be the best teammate that I can be … and if I can have a good performance myself personally then that’s great, but team success is something you search for,” Redman said.
He has played in two losing finals for the Bombers in his 92 games, but says he and his teammates aren’t burdened by the club’s 19-year finals win drought. He likes to think they are starting to make their own history.
His intercept skills in defence have been outstanding this season.
“I look at Darcy Moore and Tom Stewart and the patterns they are able to do as intercepting defenders,” he said. “They are obviously a fair bit taller than me but you try to use similar patterns and similar working, we are trying to get to the level of impact those guys have.”
He credits his form this season and in recent seasons to what happened in the hub during that extraordinarily difficult 2020 season.
“That (2020) was a turning point for me … I know a lot of guys (in the hub) enjoyed Queensland and compared to Victorians, we had a lot more normality in our lives compared to the citizens of Melbourne,” he said.
“I was carrying a groin overload injury into that year, which was frustrating at the start of that year, and I allowed it to get on top of me mentally.
“I love getting out and about, and the social aspect of life and being able to visit friends and family.
“I’ve got a dog now (a Hungarian Vizsla called Barney who is “orangey-red”) and I love walking him.
“But I felt trapped in that environment up there (in the hub). Every day on the way home from the club I would normally call my dad and my mates. But I went away from that in the hub and fell into some bad habits for whatever reasons.
“I look back now and think it was a blessing in disguise. As much as it was tough, I have learnt so much from that. I am a better player and a better person for what I have gone through.”
The lessons clearly worked for him. Redman has only missed three games since that 2020 season and has been one of the most durable players for the Bombers in that time.
He and his partner Emma have already bought a home in South Australia, but Essendon fans shouldn’t read anything into that.
It is in his hometown of Millicent, not in Adelaide. He plans to live there when his AFL career is over – deep into the future – as well as coach the local footy team.
That’s a far cry from the MCG on Sunday night where he and the Bombers will tackle the Blues, and with Essendon fans hoping that the more wins that come, the greater the chance Redman might choose to stay.
Star defender reveals why he hasn’t yet committed to Dons
One of football’s highest profile free agents Mason Redman has revealed the reason why he hasn’t rushed a decision on his football future, saying he wanted to get a clearer picture on Essendon’s evolution under new coach Brad Scott.
Redman, 25, is in the final year of his contract with the Bombers and he told theSunday Herald Sunthat with all the change that had gone on at the club across the past nine months, he wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the direction in which it was headed.
The good news for Bombers is that Redman has been impressed by what Scott has brought to the club and the team.
But he hasn’t yet locked into a decision on his future, preferring to leave the finer details to his manager as Adelaide makes a lucrative play for his services while the Bombers work to retain him.
“If you are a professional in any landscape, and there has been a big change in your area, you don’t want to make a decision on your future before you know what that change is like,” a candid Redman told the Sunday Herald Sun ahead of Sunday’s King’s Birthday Eve clash with Carlton at the MCG before an expected 75,000-plus crowd.
“I feel for me and for Darcy (Parish) as well who is going through it, and for guys like (Giant) Harry Himmelberg, when your club has gone through a period of change like we have, or like the Giants have, it would be remiss of us as professionals not to give it a bit of time to see what the situation is like.
“I have needed the time to see the direction of the club and I am really impressed with Brad (Scott) and the direction of the club and where we have been able to take it over the first half of the year.
“I didn’t know what Brad was like coming in. Obviously, I can’t speculate on what my future is going to be, but I couldn’t be more impressed by the coach and the person that he is and the environment he is trying to create at the football club.”
Redman, who originally comes from Millicent in South Australia, 50 kilometres north of Mount Gambier, dismissed any suggestions that there might be a “go-home” factor to Adelaide’s interest in him.
“It (Millicent) is four hours drive from Adelaide and five from Melbourne, so there is no real go-home factor there,” he added.
He said the contract situation and the resulting talk surrounding it can be difficult, as evidenced by a recent player sponsor night when he was asked about it on a number of occasions. But he said he had tried not to let it impact his form.
“I think I have been able to compartmentalise it, and separate it from when I am out on the football field or the training track,” he said.
“I am able to go out and play my role and be the best teammate I can be.
“It is what you employ a manager for, they sort of get that side of it done for you and allow you to concentrate on what you are paid to do, which is to play football and hopefully to provide entertainment for the fans.”
The Bombers have already won as many games at the halfway point of the season as they did for the entire 2022 season, but a win over Carlton on Sunday will further solidify their top eight prospects.
He is concentrating more on the club’s overall form, which is solid at 7-5 on the win-loss ledger, and on helping shape the club’s defence into their stated aim of one day being the best in the AFL.
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