Inside Brad Scott’s rise and fall as head coach of North Melbourne
Brad Scott’s time at North Melbourne was a rollercoaster. But amid the ups and downs over a decade, one decision stands out above all as having the biggest impact on his future at the club.
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Brad Scott arrived at Arden Street in 2010, appointed to guide a club that was coming off an inglorious 13th place from seven wins the previous year.
The former Brisbane premiership player quickly implemented off-field improvements that remain in place today.
No longer would players have to travel off-site to visit part-time doctors and physios in the city.
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And when it came to marketing the North Melbourne brand, he was everything a lower-profile club could have wished for.
After flirting around base camp of the eight in 2010-13, Scott took the Kangaroos to successive preliminary finals in 2014-15 with a team former player Leigh “Patch” Adams believed over-achieved.
“I thought Brad Scott was a brilliant coach,” Adams said.
“He turned us around from a young team copping regular whacks to one that reached a couple of preliminary finals and to my mind one that batted above our average on talent.
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“He was tactically the best coach I’ve had and he gave us self-belief. It was all about adhering to his game plan. If we achieved that then we would win more than lose.”
North clearly adhered to that game plan in the first nine games of 2016, remaining undefeated before collapsing, winning just three more matches and copping a thrashing from Adelaide in the first week of the finals.
It was the same season in which Scott ended the careers of much-loved veterans Brent “Boomer” Harvey, Drew Petrie and Michael Firrito.
He also called time on Nick Dal Santo.
It was the decision to axe Harvey, a 38-year-old who appeared to drink from the fountain of youth, that changed the narrative and would rankle Roo loyalists.
It still bothers them to this day.
Harvey politely declined to be interviewed during the week and has never publicly criticised Scott or his decision.
He finished fifth in the club’s best and fairest in 2016, picking up 496 possessions in his 23 games for 36 goals, figures comparable to Toby Greene, who was picked as a small/medium forward in the All-Australian team.
One North insider said the Harvey decision was “still sensitive”.
“You could argue it was the beginning of the end for Brad and that things began to unravel from then on,” the insider said.
The figures largely support that view — North finished 15th with six wins in 2017 and when Scott left after Round 10 this year, the Kangaroos were sitting 14th with three wins.
THE MOMENT WITH THE NORTH BOARD
It was five weeks into this season that Scott advised his board that the slate needed to be cleaned, possibly with senior players culled or traded so North could get back into the draft.
The board reaction was: “Hang on, didn’t we just do that a couple of years ago in 2016 when Boomer and the others were sacked?”
From that moment the board and Scott were headed in differing directions.
Scott was said to have checked out mentally a month before he coached North to an inspiring Round 10 win over the Western Bulldogs.
Ironically, his players were largely positive after the win, hardly the actions of a group who didn’t care for their coach.
It’s a view former Kangaroo defender Firrito could relate to.
“From my experience Brad always puts his players first and went into bat for his boys, being very protective of them towards the media,” Firrito said.
“We knew that he was happy to cop the brunt on our behalf.”
Firrito, who played 275 matches with the club in 2003-16, said Scott was capable of succeeding in life inside or outside football.
“How smart is he? Very,” he said.
“He knows the game really well and is a very switched-on bloke.
“If he hadn’t gone down the coaching path I’m pretty sure he would have already made his mark in the business world. He has that ability to get his message through.
“Our wives are good friends and catch up, plus we have kids around the same age. I saw him up on the Gold Coast recently and we had a good chat.
“It seemed from that chat that some fresh air was required from everybody, so the timing was probably right.
“I’m not sure if he wants to coach again. Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want to put themselves through that type of heat.
“But Brad is a super competitive bloke, the way he played, the way he wants to get the best out of himself so it wouldn’t surprise me if he did step back into a coaching role.”
THE RHYCE SHAW IMPACT
On-lookers can place whatever spin they like on North winning four of five games under caretaker coach Rhyce Shaw, but clearly there is a new criteria for selection.
Scott had his favourites — like every man since Jack Worrall became the first acknowledged VFL coach 113 years ago — and there was never any suggestion that a player of captain Jack Ziebell’s standing would see VFL action, even if his form at times may have warranted it.
He was also a loyal Lindsay Thomas fan.
Under Shaw you could surmise that both of those players would have done time in the VFL.
When respected member of the leadership group Jamie McMillan recovered from a calf injury in June, Shaw ensured his first two football appointments were VFL rather than AFL.
It has sent a powerful message.
Even one of the club’s best player in Shaun Higgins is not guaranteed automatic selection when he returns from a shoulder injury.
WHERE WILL BRAD SCOTT END UP?
With seven rounds to determine how many AFL coaching positions will be available in 2020, where does Scott sit?
He has been named in discussion around the vacant Carlton job, and has been linked to St Kilda where the pressure has been mounting on Alan Richardson.
The circumstances in which he left North are not ideal, especially since the success of caretaker Shaw.
But Scott has years under his belt, and clubs want experience rather than “training wheels”, to use a Chris Judd analogy.
“Brad has that steely resolve where he is confident in his ability. I took that away from my time with Brad, that so long as you know you are doing the right thing, the outside noise is irrelevant,” Firrito said.
Adams, who is these days building a solid reputation of a young standalone VFL team in Coburg, is less certain about Scott’s future.
“We caught up recently and enjoy a good relationship where we speak about our young families, and how football plays a role in general life,” he said.
“We are both stay at home dads so we talk about the frustrations, and joy, of looking after two kids under five.
“Brad was tactically the best coach I’ve had and I played my best footy under him because he gave me the self-belief. He was tactically brilliant, the way he sets up the game during the week, to exploit the opposition.
“He always wanted to get the game on our terms before the ball had been bounced.
“I grew up a Fitzroy/Brisbane supporter and loved watching him play for the Lions, and thought if he coached like he played then we would cop a lot of sprays, but he was actually very measured. Rather than yell, he would be more disappointed in you and it was actually worse.
“Will he coach again? My first thought was he would because he has so much knowledge, but when you have been in footy for as long as he has then maybe you want to look elsewhere.
“Having time away from the game may be giving him a different perspective.”
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