Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

[Call Me Cake]

I believe we are on the right path, but a part of that belief rests on the fact that Scott has pressure on him. Signing him would kill that, and I think ironically releasing the valve could actually derail us instead of make anything better.

There is no point to it. Doing it would be almost as braindead of a move as the Worsfold/Rutten debacle, not quite the same but very close.

 

[P Money]

I believe we are on the right path, but a part of that belief rests on the fact that Scott has pressure on him. Signing him would kill that, and I think ironically releasing the valve could actually derail us instead of make anything better.

There is no point to it. Doing it would be almost as braindead of a move as the Worsfold/Rutten debacle, not quite the same but very close.

Not sure I agree. I think 'pressure' on Scott at this point would take away his mandate to rebuild this basket case of a club and team from the ground up for sustained success and give him an incentive to stray from the long-term view to some sugar hits and short term results.

In my opinion the heat should very much be on him internally to show that he is hitting the measurements and metrics that show we are on the right path of serious cultural improvement and player development, but he should be shielded from rowdy fans and shallow media analysis focused purely on getting more wins.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Like it or not, the club sees things we can’t and is entitled to decide they have their guy for the build. We are at least one more year away from being a finals side and several from contending for flags.

 

[BrunoV]

I suspect people are drastically misunderstanding 'standards' and what 'being an AFL player, versus living an AFL lifestyle' means in reality.

It's not; our blokes are running around doing 30% of the work needed to be an AFL player, getting on the piss and smashing pies for dinner every day.

It's; are our blokes doing 95% of the work needed, but not that extra 5% to take you from an average AFL side to a good one. And really, it's probably not even 5%, more like 1 - 2%.

The gap between most sides (physically) is really not very large.

Take the GWS v Collingwood game, where the Pies looked utterly cooked by 3QT time and lost by 8 goals. GWS absolutely ran over the top of them.

GWS ran 2.7% further for the entire game. GWS had 4.2% more total sprint efforts.

Finding that % can be really difficult because it's not obvious, it's the sum of a lot of small decisions.

How Hodge set the tone for Brisbane's year with a can of coke

Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko has given a tangible example of the impact Luke Hodge has had on the club culture

archive.sen.com.au

This one always stuck with me. What's a can of coke with lunch at any away game for a professional athlete? They easily burn off the calories; it's 161 calories, an average energy gel is 100, a bottle of Gatorade is around 141. You're burning 600 - 800/hr during a game. It's not really about the calories of a can of coke.

It's the accumulation of good habits and good choices, across an entire playing group, over an entire season. It's finding the players that have the respect of the playing group and the drive to keep turning up and doing these small things, every day, until it's part of the culture of the entire playing group.

All of that is right, which is why it doesn't make any sense that standards have become such an issue this late in the piece.

In any given year there would be 12 sides that are dealing with this issue. It is not unique to Essendon and to the extent that Essendon is still able to win a lot of footy matches in any given year suggests that it is not causally relevant to what the club seems to think is about to follow. What you are discussing is what is required for teams to live in the top 4. No one is suggesting that is where Essendon should be this season - there is clearly room for a middle ground. I am responding to the signal being sent that the club does not believe objectively acceptable results will follow.

What is acceptable is pretty easily determined by the age profile of the list.

Caldwell (7y), Draper (9y), Durham (6y), Duursma (7y), Gresham (10y), Guelfi (10y), Jones (6y), Langford (11y), Martin (6y), McGrath (9y), McKay (10y), Merrett (vet), Parish (10y), Perkins (5th) and Redman (10y) is 15 best 22 players all in their prime years. The youngest player (Perkins) is 5th year by age - all years are by age based on the minimum draft age of 18. I don't want to be accused of exaggerating but I'd say Prior (6y) is pretty clearly a member of this first group. Wright (11y) should be the 17th member of this first group. Bryan (6y), Hobbs (4y), Tsatas (3y) and Reid (5y) are not far behind in their prime productive years (allowing for the reality that taller guys take longer than not). Caddy (2y) is clearly good enough to have an AFL level impact in more games than not. That's our core 22 and it includes 1 second year player, 1 third year player and 1 fourth year. Indications are that Shiel (vet) will be a very good AFL player this season. Laverde (11y) is reasonably solid depth as is Goldstein. A fit Setterfield (9y) is probably in a core group of 17-18 with Prior and Wright. The coach has faith in Menzie (which I do not share) and is 5th year by age. Cox (5y) has ability. El Hawli and Edwards are 24 (i.e. 6y) and 25 (i.e. 7y) respectively and will not have too much of a lag time if they are good enough.

That's 30 players on the list who are or have the physical capacity and maturity to be genuine AFL quantities this season. I have 'reached' to the babies on the list once to include a second year player. This doesn't even include the likelihood that Kako and possibly even Roberts will be near best 22 on merit. Davey has played 20 games. Who knows, maybe Lual will surprise some and force his way into a team.

The profile of this list is not one which should be going backwards and is certainly not one for which missing a 1% or 2% is the difference between a shit storm by the end of the year and not.

If there is such a problem with professionalism that there is such an obvious problem with standards why don't they make real change? I don't have faith in people and organisations who play games.

I don't expect them to publicly say that they will win a final but it would be an indictment on a coach in his 3rd year with this group if they don't make finals (and win one). At some point results are the only criteria that matters. If Scott can't produce the results we need someone who can do it.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Excellent decision by the club. We’re making good decisions lately with new regime.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Not sure I agree. I think 'pressure' on Scott at this point would take away his mandate to rebuild this basket case of a club and team from the ground up for sustained success and give him an incentive to stray from the long-term view to some sugar hits and short term results.

In my opinion the heat should very much be on him internally to show that he is hitting the measurements and metrics that show we are on the right path of serious cultural improvement and player development, but he should be shielded from rowdy fans and shallow media analysis focused purely on getting more wins.

I agree.

People obsess over the notion of putting people under pressure but unless that pressure is applied very carefully it will 100% counterproductive.

For example. If Scott is put under too much pressure to get wins you can guarantee there will be efforts made to get those results that may well be at the cost of longer term success.

 

[jdBombers3598]

way too early, we shouldnt be doing anything under next year. But if it pisses off the hirdites im all for it

 

[HirdsTheWord]

we shouldn't be doing shit until the end of next year when brads contract is up, or at least until the end of this year.

there is zero need to pull any triggers right now until we see what brads third year delivers.

I fail to see what brad has achieved thus far that would trigger any type of extension this early.

Insane if this is true.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Not sure I agree. I think 'pressure' on Scott at this point would take away his mandate to rebuild

Perhaps because you misunderstood my post. When I said pressure, I never meant wins or finals, I meant pressure as in to continue to the path we've been on since 2023. Our rebuild began at the end of 2022, on and off the field.

Scott, like many new coaches have to do, spent the first year finding out what his best 22 should look like as well as participate in an overhaul of the club top to bottom.

As long as the goal remains aligned within the club, there is no need for an extra year to be given 24 months in advance. But he still needs to be challenged and to know that the trajectory of the list's build, even if not linear, is important to the overall future of him being the one driving it. Humans work best under pressure, it's why we want players to fear for their spots.

 

[rumply]

 

[P Money]

Perhaps because you misunderstood my post. When I said pressure, I never meant wins or finals, I meant pressure as in to continue to the path we've been on since 2023. Our rebuild began at the end of 2022, on and off the field.

Scott, like many new coaches have to do, spent the first year finding out what his best 22 should look like as well as participate in an overhaul of the club top to bottom.

As long as the goal remains aligned within the club, there is no need for an extra year to be given 24 months in advance. But he still needs to be challenged and to know that the trajectory of the list's build, even if not linear, is important to the overall future of him being the one driving it. Humans work best under pressure, it's why we want players to fear for their spots.

Yep fair enough. I think we're more or less in agreement then.

The timing is interesting. I just listened to Scott's presser and he mentioned that clubs that don't have stability are not attractive to trade/FA targets, so it may be that's a big part of the reasoning for extending early.

 

[faible]

Bombers extend contract for Scott

Senior Coach on board until at least the end of 2027.

www.essendonfc.com.au

The Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce that Senior Coach Brad Scott has agreed to a contract extension which will see him lead the Club until at least the end of 2027.

Scott's initial contract was set to run through to the end of 2026, with this new deal extending his tenure by an additional season.

 

[Zach Package]

‘why, why, why, CraigVozzo

 

[Beerfish]

 

[mitch-wa]

Could it have something to do with re-jigging the soft cap maybe? Front load/back load like they do player contracts?

Bit early I think but I’m fine with it.

 

[Beerfish]

Inb4 it's actually 2 years not 1.

 

[windyhill]

hirds reaction on hearing

 

[The Dustbin]

I don't see an issue with the extension. We need stability and direction, Scott needs the time to get a fair crack at it as it is.
Makes sense to align with Barham's tenure - all on the same page.

 

[faible]

Inb4 it's actually 2 years not 1.

Also known as the 'Parish'

 

[dank420_]

whatever your opinion might be, if you’re against this you’re wrong.

 

[DERO]

Hirdy needs a couple of years to really get the juices flowing

 

[jannissary]

would rather scott be in tenure til the end of the 8 year plan then get some new flog in his place and change it up

 

[div12ressie]

more premature than my dad

 

[ant555]

I still think we could have waited. If we start the season well then sign him mid season. For mine it is one of the dumb things AFL clubs seem to do.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

I still think we could have waited. If we start the season well then sign him mid season. For mine it is one of the dumb things AFL clubs seem to do.

this was a stupid move

he is about to start his 3rd year of a 4-year deal.

Why not just wait until the end of this year and we than sign him if its warranted?

What on earth has brad done to warrant an extension based on his last 2 years? Tell us we have shit standards we already knew we had? Bizarre move for mine.

We have a shit 2025 and we all of a sudden have more pressure on the club.