Inside coaches pub meeting with senior AFL figures, with past ‘breakdown’ a key talking point

Coaches have spilled the beans on a high powered meeting with AFL bosses amid growing concerns around the game’s senios leadership.

Essendon’s Brad Scott says the most recent coaches meeting with senior league officials was “probably the best AFL meeting I can recall” as he declared Andrew Dillon the right man to lead the code.

Scott on Monday night was at the Builders Arms pub in Fitzroy for an annual catch up between AFL coaches and key members from league headquarters.

The AFL crew of chief executive Dillon, football operations boss Laura Kane and general manager of football performance Josh Mahoney met with Scott, Geelong’s Chris Scott Melbourne’s Simon Goodwin and North Melbourne’s Alastair Clarkson.

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Addressing reporters at Bombers headquarters on Tuesday morning, Scott joked the “lamb shoulder was solid” before declaring he left the AFL meeting “optimistic” about the future of the game.

Scott said it was clear the AFL had a “willingness to listen” to the coaches’ concerns and that they “asked as many questions as we asked of them”.

“It was probably the best AFL meeting I can recall,” Scott said. “There were clearly a lot of things to talk about and I really felt that Andrew Dillon, in particular, with his staff really listened to all the agenda items that the coaches had.

AFL coaches and AFL CEO Andrew Dillon have dinner at the Builders Arms Hotel Fitzroy. Picture: Jason Edwards

“I felt there was really productive discussion. No doubt everyone got their thoughts out on the table. I suppose the challenge now from here is what action is taken from this point.”

While Scott said there were “some things that should stay between the AFL and the coaches”, he revealed club football department soft cap and, by extension, talent development was heavily discussed.

“I know the coaches feel a real sense of responsibility to the game and a holistic look at the game. It’s not just funding football departments, there are a lot of AFL priorities and objectives that they’ve got to fulfil,” he said.

“I certainly feel – and I was very clear in my own personal opinion – that football departments have been placed pretty low on the priority list of AFL expenditure. That feeds into things like development of players and recruiting pathways and all those things.

“The AFL generates a certain amount of revenue and choose to invest that revenue in different parts of the game. It’s always a matter of how the pie is distributed.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and Cats coach Chris Scott. Picture: Jason Edwards

“There was certainly no requests made in terms of what number it should be, it was more how are we prioritising things.

“I think there’s been a bit of a breakdown in terms of the understanding from headquarters as to the challenge football departments face. But last night was a really good step in the right direction.”

Scott said the coaches stressed the importance of resourcing talent development, particularly pathways for First Nations players amid Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

“We’re playing in a massive game this Friday night at the MCG, Dreamtime at the ‘G, and we’re looking to foster Indigenous pathways,” he said. “That’s something I think we can always do better, it’s been a really important part of our game’s history and that’s just one element of how clubs and the AFL develop better pathways for all boys and girls, but in particular – as it relates to this Friday night’s game – Indigenous pathways.

“A lot of that has been pushed on the clubs, (but) I think it takes an industry approach – rather than a club approach.”

Simon Goodwin and Alastair Clarkson leave the pub. Picture: Jason Edwards

It’s been a testing few weeks for Dillon and Kane, who’ve attracted ample external scrutiny for the league’s handling of an investigation into Power forward Willie Rioli then its treatment of umpires in the wake of Magpie Lachie Schultz’s concussion against Fremantle.

But Scott, who worked in the AFL’s football department before taking on the Essendon coach role, said he had “the upmost faith and confidence in Andrew Dillon’s capability to do the job”.

“He’s an exceptional administrator, I’ve seen first-hand how talented he is,” he said.

“He’s in a very difficult role where you’re going to be faced with really difficult decisions and you’ve got to make decisions that are going to be unpopular at times. You’ll go through cycles where you make some mistakes and you own those mistakes and you move forward.

“But in terms of the calibre of people we have leading the game in terms of the AFL executive and the Commission, I think we’re very well placed.”

Originally published as Inside coaches pub meeting with senior AFL figures, with past ‘breakdown’ a key talking point