AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott fears the future of big men due to a pair of rule changes

Another AFL coach has called to eliminate the substitute for 2026 and his concerns surround ruckmen like former No.1 pick Nic Naitanui.

The AFL is at risk of “breeding out” leaping ruckmen and Essendon coach Brad Scott says scrapping the substitute rule looms as a potential solution.

Scott joined the chorus of senior coaches wanting to abort the limited minutes player and move to five players on the interchange.

He said ruck rule changes and the need to select a more versatile player as the substitute is minimising the chances of a “Nic Naitanui type ruckman”.

“We by definition are invested in our clubs and want what’s best for our own club (but) I like to think we’ve all got a broader lens on the good of the game overall,” Scott said.

Former West Coast star Nic Naitanui soars at a centre bounce. Photo by Daniel Wilkins.

“What I would like to see is a really strong for and against having a sub, the argument around fairness, I don’t see that argument – I didn’t see it when I was at the AFL.

“My greatest concern around the sub is it creates all sorts of problem for player load, all sorts of problems for structure and balance of teams.

“I think ruck rule changes, we’re very quickly breeding the Nic Naitanui type ruckman out of our game because you can’t jump at centre bounces anymore.

“I genuinely can’t remember the last time you saw two ruckman jump at each other for the course of a game.

“By having a sub it makes it very hard to have two ruckman, by having five on the bench I think more teams would at least look at it.”

Brad Scott wants the sub removed. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Incoming football boss Greg Swann plans to meet with officials about shortening the amount of elapsed time the game is now running for.

He believes an immediate ball up instead of waiting for ruckmen to arrive could shorten the game by up to seven minutes.

While Scott favours with the craft of ruckmen, he is in favour of an immediate ball up and feels it may also contribute to playing a second tall.

“I think we should just do that instantly, I don’t know why we wait, if the ruckman can’t get there that’s their issue,” he said.

“The reason you can play one ruck is because the umpires wait for the ruck; if he’s not there, throw it up.

“There’s nowhere in the rules does that says we have to wait for the ruckman to get there, if the ball was thrown up quicker and the ruckman couldn’t get there, maybe clubs would think, ‘gee maybe we might need two’.

“I have been really encouraged by Greg’s comments about speeding the game up.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott fears the future of big men due to a pair of rule changes