By Andrew Wu
This time last year, Essendon were a club in crisis. The Bombers’ season was already shot. A football department review had been launched. Their coach’s future was in doubt.
Twelve months on, there is an air of calmness at the Hangar. The cameras that seemed to be parked daily out the front of Bombers headquarters are now elsewhere. They’re in the eight. The hope that all clubs have over summer still burns brightly the first week of winter.
Brad Scott has brought great change at Essendon.Credit: AFL Photos
“I guess winning is kind of everything isn’t it?” Kyle Langford remarked this week.
Brad Scott may be too modest to take credit for the Bombers’ rapid transformation from basket case to finals contender, but it is irrefutable the impact he has had on one of the league’s sleeping giants.
There is no obvious single move Scott has made to reverse red and black fortunes but several small ones which, added up, explain why the Dons are viewed much differently in 2023. The shifts are so basic one may wonder why modern clubs do not err more on the side of simplicity.
“I think Brad’s put in a bit more of a football focus and individual focus on strengths,” Langford said.
Focus on football
In broader football circles, that phrase is better associated with the rebel group who attempted an audacious challenge to the Richmond board in 2016. Under Scott, it entails a heavier investment into the football program.
The expansion of development coaching roles from 2.5 to 5.5 meant players now have more people to talk to on their games. Former Collingwood premiership forward Travis Cloke, club great Michael Hurley and former North tagger Ben Jacobs, who played under Scott, have beefed up this department.
“It’s very clear who we can go to whether it be marking craft, ground balls, forward/back craft or whatever it might be,” Langford said.
“There’s very clear lines within the coaching department and a massive focus on just craft. Today we had a low-level kind of day but a big focus on technical aspects of games.”
There is now an extra training session in the week.
“The simple approach is we want players to be able to turn up every day at NEC Hangar knowing they’ve got the resources and facilities to give them the chance to improve every day,” football boss Josh Mahoney said.
“If they’ve got that approach and attitude to get better they’ll be the best players they can be. Our calendar is now very football specific. There’s a real focus on individual development of players, and we’re maximising the period of time we have with our players at the club.”
Track watchers would have noticed more match simulation over summer. By the time the “bring your mouthguards” approach was adopted mid-season last year the Dons’ campaign was already done.
“Scotty was coming into a new team, I guess he knew some players, but he didn’t know the full strength of the squad,” Langford said. “And I think early days he just wanted to play football. Just get us out there as quick as we possibly could, play 16 on 16, 18 on 18. I do remember that being a big focus.
“The kind of running you get 18 v 18 during pre-season is way better than doing 200s. Once you actually get into games, there’s definitely a shift between running fitness to your actual match fitness - it probably takes two or three games to be honest to be able to really fit within a game and I guess we just started a process a bit earlier.”
Players and football staff are also keen to acknowledge former coach Ben Rutten’s contribution to the club despite his acrimonious departure. While there is a new frontman, many of the current coaching panel were at the club last year.
Langford repeatedly uses the phrase “respect the past”, a recognition that the increased focus on football would not be possible without the foundations in other areas laid under former coaches John Worsfold and Rutten.
“Previous years, we focused a little bit more on culture, and I’m like, you have to respect the past,” Langford said. “I think what Truck’s done in the past and Woosha have definitely helped build a belief and a culture in the club. And I think Brad’s been able to come in and just really firm it up.”
Ben Rutten. Credit: Getty Images
Playing to your strengths
No player embodies this mantra better than Langford, who at age 26 is having a career-best season. Langford’s strengths are his marking and ability to read the ball in the air.
Though capable of playing back, forward and in the midfield, he advised Scott during the pre-season he wanted to settle into a specialist position.
He burst to prominence with a five-goal haul in round two against Gold Coast, and, leading the club with 20 goals, has been one of the Dons’ most consistent players, playing mainly forward with spells up the ground.
Kyle Langford. Credit: Getty Images
Scott recently told Langford he wants him to stay in attack, but not before the player had accepted his versatility was a strength.
“He would acknowledge himself in his earlier years changing positions he would not handle it too well - and was wanting to be really clear what his role was week in week out,” Mahoney said.
“He’s played forward for us the majority of time, and played back at times and wing. He now understands his flexibility is his strength and he can bring his overall strengths as a player to his role week in, week out.”
Langford is not the only player whose strengths are being maximised. Before his injury, Will Setterfield was relishing more time as a big-bodied inside midfielder, having been tried as a wingman at Carlton. Andrew McGrath is flourishing as a backman after a switch last year.
Three-club journeyman Andrew Phillips, perennially on the fringe over 12 seasons for 71 games, is playing his best football as a ruck/forward in the absence of Peter Wright.
Defence
The most noticeable on-field change is the greater emphasis on defence. While the Bombers could generate free-flowing passages, so too could their opponents. That they could not stop their zone from being sliced through was a key reason why they won just seven games last year.
Skipper Zach Merrett said earlier this year 90 per cent of their work concentrated on defence, developing what Langford describes as a more “definable” playing style.
Mahoney said: “He talks about everyone’s involved in defence. It’s something everyone can do. It doesn’t matter who your opponent is and how you’re playing individually, you can play a role in defence.”
It has helped shield a back six that has at stages missed Jordan Ridley, Zach Reid, Jayden Laverde and James Stewart to injury.
They have climbed from 16th to 11th for points conceded, but Langford knows it remains a work in progress.
Gravitas
As a 10-year coach at North Melbourne, Scott commanded immediate respect from players, Mahoney said.
Langford has noted Scott, 47 and 10 years older than Rutten, had fostered a more “clear and defined” coach and player relationship.
“I guess one of the things that’s probably been a little bit different personally from previous coaches is the coach is not there to almost be a mate,” Langford said.
“I’m your coach and I help you get better at football. And I think that’s the relationship that he has with players.
“It’s not like it’s putting players on edge at all, but it’s a distance, and it’s a healthy distance because then you can have those hard conversations, really challenge different players, leaders, younger players, whatever it might be, but I think that’s been a little bit of a different approach.”
He has also brought calmness, which helped soothe concerns amid a four-game losing streak.
“Brad was able to break it down for the players to show we are making good impressions but others we need to improve in,” Mahoney said.
“And we played against some really good opponents. That balance of wanting to win every game and being able to identify we have some work to do in different areas.”
The future
For the first time in many years, the future looks bright at Tullamarine. Langford, who has committed until the end of 2026, is now enjoying the stability the club has craved for so long.
“We’ve had a fair bit of stuff go on over the last few years, and he’s really keen to be the senior coach for a long period of time,” Langford said. “To have a lot of stability, us players can grow with him instead of a new system every two, three years.
“That’s what I’m really excited about because I can definitely see Scotty being here long-term. I’ve signed for another three years after this year, would love to play a bit more. I feel like it’s going to be consistent, and we’re not going to have any of those off-field issues anymore. And that’s what I’m excited about. Give us a clear run.”
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