Former Essendon coach Brad Scott admitted he was ‘blindsided’ by the decision to remove him from his coaching position as he opened up for the first time about being sacked on Tuesday.
It was his third year at the club where he had recorded 29, 46 losses and a singular draw.
In that record, the Bombers had managed just one win in their last 24 games and sit dead last in the league on just four points.
Despite their poor run of form, Scott felt he would get more time, given the size of the project at the club.
‘I suppose I was [blindsided], we’re going through a difficult period clearly but it hasn’t felt any different to other weeks,’ he told the Agenda Setters.
‘I’ve been really well supported over a really long period of time with the plan we put in place.
Brad Scott admitted he was blindsided by the decision to sack him as Essendon coach despite their poor form this season
Beleaguered Essendon have managed just a single win so far this season and prop up the AFL table
Scott told the Agenda Setters that he felt the whole staff had aligned on the strategy around the club and he was committed to seeing it through
‘All the key people were a part of that plan and building that plan so it felt business as usual to me.
‘We clearly articulated the risk going into this season and the difficulty we may face but we believe in the plan and I still believe in the plan.
‘I was committed to seeing it through, and committed to the playing group and all the players we re-contracted as part of that plan.
‘So yeah it was surprising, but in a way, I’ve been in this industry a long time and it wasn’t surprising because pressure does strange things.’
He also spoke about the decision to keep Zach Merrett, calling it a club decision and one he did not agree with.
‘That was a club decision, to retain Zach,’ he started, when Kane Cornes asked if he thought it was the right decision, Scott responded, ‘no.’
‘My view was that Zach had given incredible service to the Essendon football club, he had been through multiple strategies and multiple coaches,’ he elaborated.
‘My view is always you invest in the team and you put the team first and Zach found that really hard to do at the end of last year, and I felt for him and I felt for his family.
‘I didn’t think he was being selfish, I thought he had been promised things over and over again and he was at his wits’ end and he couldn’t invest in the team anymore.
‘We should have let him go but the club view is we should keep him and what the club’s view is, is my view and I fronted that.’
Scott also revealed he felt the club should have traded Zach Merrett when he requested a trade
Scott also opened up on the strategic approach from within the club, saying he thought the supporters were going to hate him for it.
‘It’s attack the draft, forgo older more experienced players to bring in draft picks and build the list organically from the bottom up.
‘This was another huge challenge of the job, in that it is very difficult to simultaneously articulate that we are rebuilding while trying to galvanise a group of senior players that we want to win every week.
‘To explain to your supporters that we want to win every week but it’s going to be hard.
‘When we embarked on that strategy, I thought “gee the supporters are going to hate me.” because it’s going to be hard and we are vulnerable.
‘But I wanted to embark on a strategy that Essendon hadn’t embarked on this century and I knew the odds of seeing it through are slim.
‘The supporters are going to hate this, and it’s going to be hard, why would you do this? And the answer was because it was the right thing to do and I still think it was the right thing to do.
‘In time when the supporters see these kids come together, the supporters might look back and think “maybe we don’t hate him as much now”.’
