AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott on Zach Reid, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and injury opportunity

Essendon coach Brad Scott says he views his club’s extensive injury list a little differently and has detailed the immediate future of three injured stars.

The narrative reads a little differently to Essendon coach Brad Scott.

The Bombers’ wretched run of injuries has deepened over the past fortnight, with Mason Redman, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and Zach Reid all pulling up sore from training.

Setbacks to Parish, Langford and Redman all occurred during the Bombers’ bye week while Reid was injured at training on Wednesday.

Return dates for Parish (calf) and Langford (quad) are undetermined, while Redman (hamstring) will miss at least a week.

Reid was sent for scans on a hamstring issue after edging closer to a return from previous injury.

Essendon has 11 unavailable for Gold Coast this weekend – nine of them serving long-term stints on the sidelines.

But Scott — prior to training on Wednesday — refused to view it as a “crisis” and said he shared the same view of the fringe players who are getting premature chances at senior level.

“That’s the thing about the headlines, ‘injury crisis’ and all these things – I guarantee you it’s not a crisis to those players who are on the fringe of selection,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to put their name up in lights and get their opportunity they’ve been working so hard for.

“That’s the silver lining for us. It’s clearly not ideal, we’d love to have better availability, but we’ve had players emerge who wouldn’t have had their opportunity.

“Even if we did make seven changes this week, Angus Clarke wasn’t going out regardless. I couldn’t have said that seven weeks ago.”

Darcy Parish is sidelined indefinitely. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Angus Clarke has been a find for Essendon amid its injury carnage. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Parish has played just three matches this year after missing the start of the season with the same calf issue.

Langford, six games, has also been troubled by a quad issue in the past.

Scott admits there is a level of concern for the pair, as their injuries are a repeat of previous setbacks – but he hasn’t put a line through their respective seasons.

“I’ve heard some people say, ‘That’s it for the season’, that’s not our attitude. We’re going to rehab them as best we can and get them back playing as soon as possible,” he said.

“It leaves (Parish) in rehab again trying to get back before the end of the season. He’s a really important part of our team and he come back in after a long lay-off and looked pretty sharp.

“It’s a loss to us but we’ve got to keep pushing ahead and (Parish), with our full support, got to try get to the bottom of why he’s had another recurrence.

“It’s always a concern when you have a recurrence, injuries are an unfortunate part of our game. You try to minimise them as much you can, but when you have a recurrence to an existing injury it is a concern.

“We’ve got to deal with it, I understand the interest in it … but my focus is purely on the 23 we pick to go and get the job done on Saturday.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: Essendon coach Brad Scott on Zach Reid, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford and injury opportunity