Opinion
Last season was an unmitigated disaster for the Essendon Football Club.
After their promising eighth-placed finish in 2021, expectations were high for season 2022. Crippled by the weight of expectation, the Bombers’ directionless playing list fell to 15th.
Senior coach Ben Rutten was sacked in August, a coup to recruit supercoach Alastair Clarkson failed miserably and the board of directors were stained by political infighting.
The Bomber faithful and footballing media were unsure where Essendon’s playing list stood – was it so poor and ageing that they should rebuild? Or had they underperformed due to poor coaching and diminishing morale?
Combine these questions with an agitated fan-base, and you get what Clarkson described as a “basket case” of a football club.
Brad Scott seemingly took the role that no one wanted as the head coach of Essendon in September 2022.
This appointment was not met with great fanfare or delight. Scott was seen as a has-been and an AFL house ring in. A negative, unexcitable stopgap coach who did not achieve much during his 10-year tenure as senior coach of the Kangaroos.
Those views were short-sighted and contrary to his previous performance. During Scott’s nine full seasons at North Melbourne, the Kangaroos made the finals four times, including two preliminary finals. In four of the five seasons where North did not make finals, they finished ninth or 10th.
Scott was not blessed with the best playing list or club resources, however managed to make his Kangaroos consistently competitive over a long period of time.
Essendon coach Brad Scott. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The similarities between North Melbourne and Essendon as football clubs are evident. Both are smaller Melbourne-based clubs that, whilst steeped in historical success, have been starved of recent triumphs. Both clubs over the past decade have been seeking relevance, financial profitability, and the ability to become destination clubs for players and administrators.
During his first season at the helm, Scott has Essendon sitting pretty in sixth place with an 8-6 win-loss record.
From the outside, the Essendon Football Club looks as united as it has been in a decade. There are no fractions, no Kevin Sheedy rants and no media-fuelled division or instability. Rather, there is a simplicity and consistency to the Bombers.
This begun in the pre-season, when Scott regularly tempered expectations and outlined to Bombers supporters that their first aim was to be undeniably competitive and hard to play against.
This approach has been successful for the Bombers. Last year, they were ranked 16th for points against, and were regularly blown away by higher quality opponents (evidenced by 11-goal losses to Geelong and Richmond, a 10-goal defeat to Sydney and a 14-goal thumping by Port Adelaide).
This season, they have not lost by more than seven goals and have only been beaten by more than five goals twice (against Brisbane by 42 points and against Fremantle by 32 points).
Scott’s quiet, no-fuss approach is exactly what the Bombers needed. No grandstanding statements after emotional wins and no panic after unexpected losses, simply a calm and level approach. It has meant that his players and the Bomber’s powerbrokers remain calm and confident in Scott’s path forward.
Scott has also undoubtedly improved the current playing list. During his first trade period, only Will Setterfield from Carlton and Sam Weideman from Melbourne were acquired. The only All-Australians at his disposal are Zac Merrett (2021), Darcy Parish (2021), Jordan Ridley (2020) and Dyson Heppell (2014).
Scott has greatly improved the likes of Jye Caldwell, Mason Redman and Kyle Langford, as well as fast tracked the development of youngsters such as Nic Martin.
The Bombers face a tough run home over their last nine games, with matches against both Adelaide clubs, Geelong, the Bulldogs and Collingwood included. If Scott can push his side to a finals appearance and even win a final, he will have proven an excellent choice by the Essendon Football Club.
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