AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott hopes the Lachie Schultz umpiring case is ‘isolated event’

The Essendon coach says common sense usually prevails with injured players and hopes a Collingwood forward’s case remains a one-off.

Essendon coach Brad Scott is confident the case involving concussed Collingwood small forward Lachie Schultz is “an isolated incident” as criticism rages about the umpires’ handling of the incident and the AFL’s reaction.

Play continued around Schultz after he was knocked out in the dying minutes of the Magpies’ win over Fremantle last Thursday night at Optus Stadium.

The AFL initially stated the umpires were unaware of the injury as they officiated the tense finish.

But audio released on Tuesday night revealed the umpires discussing the injury between each other and urging play to continue, in contrast to the post-game messaging from the AFL and football boss Laura Kane.

But Scott said he was happy for play to continue around an injured player if they were out of harm’s way and hoped the Schultz debacle remained an anomaly.

“I think common sense has generally prevailed in those situations over time. I understand the interest in this one, hopefully it’s an isolated incident” he said.

Lachie Schultz collapses in the hands of medical staff while walking from the field. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“If it’s up the other end of the ground I think there’s reason to let play go, but as soon as there any chance the play coming near the injured player you stop the play.

“I think that’s what the umpires have done in the vast majority of occasions. I understand the interest in this one, but my view is its fairly isolated.

“When Lewis (Hayes) was injured the play stopped pretty quickly to get him off the ground.”

Scott dodged further questions about the level of umpiring but agreed the recent cases involving injured players “aren’t ideal”.

“I have some empathy for the decision makers here – both the umpires and the AFL – they’re always going to be very heavily scrutinised,” he said.

“I think the silver lining to come out of it is that you make a mistake, you learn lessons and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully, that’s the case in this particular case.”

Essendon’s injury list is growing by the week after debutant Lewis Hayes tore his ACL against Sydney. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Essendon takes on the Western Bulldogs this Saturday with another key-position player on the long-term injury list after debutant Lewis Hayes tore his ACL.

Hayes joins Harrison Jones, Sam Draper, Nick Bryan, Tom Edwards and Jayden Nguyen out for extended periods of time.

“I don’t think you can deny the frustration but it’s the response to the frustration that counts,” Scott said.

“Coaches talk all the time to players about control what you can control, and coaches have to walk the walk there too.

“Clearly, we’re disappointed, we’re not denying that, but we’ve got to move on to what’s next and stay focused on the things we can control.

“The thing we can control right at the moment is giving opportunity to other players and those players can control being ready for the opportunity when it comes.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott hopes the Lachie Schultz umpiring case is ‘isolated event’