00:00:00
Speaker 1: Sound the alarm. It's time for another emergency podcast. Another coach has been given the acts. Brad Scott is gone out of Essenon. Ed Burke, you were there. Let's get straight into it. What happened at the hanging this morning and what have we learned?

00:00:10
Speaker 2: Arrived at Tylermarene in heavy fog this morning. The Bombers were already on the track. They brought training forward, caught a few of their diehard fans are usually there on a Tuesday off guard, but they wanted the players to avoid the media scrum in the car park and get out on the track. And from what I could tell, spirits were pretty high. It might have been one of those artificial things where that sort of spirits make an effort to pick themselves up. But it was the most animated I've seen in Essenon session this season. Being out there, and I've watched a fair bit of training out there. Dean Solomon was doing a lot of pointing and directing around and as we know, he became interim coach later in the day. Ben Jacobs was the other assistant coach taking training. I think all their fit players are out there. Was about thirty or so on the track, Zach Merritt running around talking to Dean Solomon a bit so spirit seems high, but you know they're putting on a show for the cameras. Cameras were there the whole time, so I'm not sure how much you're reading too that.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lauren Wood is also here. What it was weekend meetings? It was a Monday meeting with Brad Scott and now he's gone. When you're surprised when the news started coming through at what seven thirty Tuesday morning.

00:01:07
Speaker 3: I wasn't surprised with the outcome. I was really surprised with the timing. I was at dream Time and the g on Friday night.

00:01:13
Speaker 4: It was diabolical when it came to the injury crisis that they faced.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: Realistically, they had no fit players left on the bench. I think everyone came away from that game saying, you know, this is really dire. They've obviously lost to Richmond, They've got West Coast and Carlton coming up.

00:01:26
Speaker 4: This was going to be a really formative few weeks.

00:01:28
Speaker 3: But I certainly didn't think it would be now, and particularly off the back of that game, much less after the passing of Neil Danaher, who is arguably you know, he's an Essendon in person, he played there, he was such a stawater of that club and has has such a long, rich family history with that club. So I think that was the really surprising thing that, you know, what played out over the weekend did. Ultimately the final decision, as Andrew Welsh said in the press conference today, came after the news had broken that Neil had passed away, even though the board had reached his decision. Told Brad Scott last night and then they had another early meeting morning this morning.

00:02:03
Speaker 4: So in terms of the.

00:02:05
Speaker 3: Decision itself, no, I think it's unfortunate to say it, but the writing was on the wall, inevitable after as he said, the losses that they'd been having, the way that those games have been playing out. I think everyone realized realistically that he wasn't the man for next year, so why continue on?

00:02:20
Speaker 4: But no, the timing really struck me. I didn't love it.

00:02:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, the timing is interesting, particularly after a month and a half ago on the back page of our paper that he had done exclusive interviews with Jake Clark saying he's going to be our next premiership coach and now only six weeks or so later he's gone, and what happened Essen and did they go back on their word? Why did they change their mind?

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Well, Andrew Welsh spoke a lot about the nature of the losses. That was the thing that he kept going back to the nature of them. And I'm not sure that there are many other coaches who could have coached the Bombers to victory against Richmond on Saturday night with those injuries, to finish the game with nineteen fit players, maybe fewer than that. I'm just not not convinced by that. I just think it was a bit of hot air at the time. The absolute belief remarks Brad Scott' seen up until the last moment, thought that he was aligned with the CEO and the president on that then being part of the rebuilding both on the board at the time they came up with those decisions. So what if you think about what Brad Scott said about the strategy and him not seeking to top up the list with older players from other clubs, which he did do a little bit with Ben Mackay Jade Gresham. He says he could have done more of that, didn't want to because he was focused on this strategy. Andrew Welsh mentioned in his press conference that he thought brad Scott had been uncompromising and sticking to that strategy. So from what I can understand, he has tried to do exactly what the board has asked of him. So it does feel like a brutal call.

00:03:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was fascinating last week obviously on AFL three to sixty he laid that out and he put it on the board Lauren that it's their call. I'm just doing what they're told basically. Do you think that was almost a political misstep? Did he put himself into trouble by making that so clear?

00:03:49
Speaker 3: No, I think Brad Brad's a season enough operator to know exactly what he's saying. I think he's obviously lived this scenario before at North Melbourne. Not calling it an ultimatum, but I think it was a little bit of, you know, actually make your decision here. And then obviously the interview with Tim Roberts on seven News came out a couple of days following that, where he declared that he was absolutely certain that Brad Scott was the one to coach. So I think Andrew Welsh's was, as you say, the better part of six weeks ago.

00:04:18
Speaker 4: A lot can change in that time.

00:04:19
Speaker 3: They've gone, you know, another six weeks without a victory, that's been one in a calendar year, which is you know, arguably you can't really go against the wins and lost column, can you?

00:04:27
Speaker 4: But Tim, I don't think.

00:04:29
Speaker 3: Maybe did it any favors. We know that these things can often be a long interview that is then trimmed up for things like the nightly News. That was clearly the quote that was going to be used, and not that he backed away from it today, Ed, but it was put to him that were you in fact absolutely certain at the time. I mean, you can argue that could he say anything else? In that position, you're the chief executive of the club and you've got to back your man in at the time.

00:04:52
Speaker 4: But it sounds like it was a pretty busy weekend for them.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: Definitely. Dean Solomon, as you mentioned, Ed, he's now the man in charge, probably unsurprisingly, but they've got extremely thin assistant coaching panel for the next half season. Now, how are they going to cope getting through the next thirteen games or so?

00:05:06
Speaker 2: Well, if they're taking interim from the assistant coaches, they had to go to Solomon by default he's the only one with enough experience. He's the only one with significant coaching experience at another club when he's time with Freemantle and gold Coast. I asked Tim Roberts whether they needed to hire a senior assistant coach to spend time with the football department in the second half of the season because their stocks are so thin, but he said they had full faith in the existing assistant coaches. So you've got Ben Jacobs, Cam Roberts, Brent Stanton. They're not big names, they haven't been linked to any senior coaching no, but he said that they have a lot of depth in those ranks and he trusted that group to see out the season. So he also confirmed that they were going to be no other departures from the football department. So we know that a few of these guys are Brad Scott's men, Ben Jacobs from North Melbourne, the VFL coach Cam Joyce, Todd Goldstein a development coach, so at this stage they're all expected to stay well.

00:05:57
Speaker 3: This is obviously after the departure of Daniel gene Syracuser, who would think would have been.

00:06:01
Speaker 4: The perfect candidate if he had stayed.

00:06:03
Speaker 3: Of course, departed to Hawthorne in that head of development role there at the end of last season didn't go to the best and fairest, so there was obviously a little bit of tension there upon his exit. But I mean he would have been another one who could have at least boosted that sort of experience level, couldn't he at the end of last year. But he's obviously out and the young ones are in, so it really had to be solely obviously he was moved off the board into the assistant coaching role. Andrew Welsh said today that that was never the plan but it has worked out nicely.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, well here we are. Probably the most impressive thing in the day out the hanger was the skipper showed up just almost twenty four hours post surgery on his face. It was all bruised and swallowen and all that sort of stuff, and he addressed the media. What did he have to say?

00:06:40
Speaker 2: Discharged from hospital this morning, Andrew McGrath, So he had surgery yesterday. He was looking very yellow and purple on his right jawbone where he had the collision against Richmond. Really brave him to get in front of the group and speak, because I don't think he'd been planning to come into the club today. He actually found out over the phone while he was still in hospital this morning. He said he'd been texting Brad Scott last night, I think about his upcoming surgery and just exchanging messages there, but didn't know about the decision, so he said his initial reaction was disappointment. He said that they've got a close relationship. He said the captain coach relationship is very special to him. But he said the players would get behind Dean Solomon. He did say that the reaction from the group was a bit of shock.

00:07:20
Speaker 3: What better to do with the broken jaw than turn up and have to talk?

00:07:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel for Andy in that scenario.

00:07:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, Zach Merrett came up with that. Press comments ed and what does this mean for him?

00:07:29
Speaker 2: Tim Robertson Andrew Wells said that Merritt Merritt's willingness to remain at the club wasn't a factor in the decision. It was an interesting comment, you pointed out. They did say a few times they weren't going to be pushed around bar thea class.

00:07:41
Speaker 1: I said that, I think, yeah, head being pushed around basically is what he said, which is fascinating.

00:07:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting whether Merrit's relationship with Dean Solomon is something that is maybe tirer than he's with Brad Scott. It's hard to tell whether that influenced his decision. I actually saw him in the cafe having a coffee with Darcy Parrish, a larger statist and j aggression, just after the news had broken to the decision. They all seem pretty relaxed out on the track. It will be interesting one. How do you think it will affect his willingness to stay? Oh?

00:08:12
Speaker 4: I don't think he has a willingness to stay at the moment.

00:08:14
Speaker 1: I don't.

00:08:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're going to see twenty twenty five two point zero this year. Obviously, he was so desperate to get to Hawthorne at the end of last season. It doesn't seem like that's going to change. It does make you wonder, though, is there that one percent that depending on who gets appointed as coach. I know there's a few contenders, one big sort of elephant in the room in a former coach, which I'm sure will get too shortly. Will that influence his decision? Can he be won back over depending by who's at the Helm. I guess Andrew welshon and Tim Roberts will be hoping that there's even a one percent chance of.

00:08:45
Speaker 1: That that elephant in the room is going to barge for that door right now, Lone, you've had a look at the contenders. The name that everybody thought of almost immediately once we heard the news of Brad Scott's gone was James Hurd. Can he coach Esenden again?

00:08:56
Speaker 3: Well, this gain momentum quicker than I think anybody could have anticipated.

00:08:59
Speaker 4: I think it was just minutes after the.

00:09:00
Speaker 3: News broke it immediately turned to that the pushes on to get James back. So I think it's evident that there's a lot of Essendon power brokers behind the scenes that have long pushed for this. I know Kevin Sheedy has been a big supporter of James returning to the club. Realistically, though, this is a guy that hasn't been part of the AFL system for the better part of eleven years, so he might have a lot of support behind closed doors, and particularly you know among the playing group who grew up watching him. Andrew Welsh obviously had a very close association with him, so it'll be an interesting move to see of this. You know Andrew Welsh Essendon. The phrase that he used today was the old Essendon if they don't go down that path again of old Essendon people. I know he described it as the new versus the old, whether that's something they go back to. He's referenced the cases of Sam Mitchell, Justin long Muir and Josh carr.

00:09:47
Speaker 4: Is going back to their respective clubs.

00:09:48
Speaker 2: Which went out of his way to remember exactly right.

00:09:51
Speaker 3: So these as I say, there is a seasoned media professionals. They know exactly what they're saying, whether they're saying it or they're not saying it. All these sort of scenarios, momentum has really really gained traction very very quickly on James. It's an interesting one amongst the Essendon fans as well. I think there would be a great ground small of support to have him back. There was never really given a clean run at dead obviously with everything that was going on, but largely had quite a bit of success in the early years with the Bombers team. So I don't know, I feel like it's one of those ones that people are really far either way on it, aren't They of this dis neecessarily cannot happen. I've noticed a lot of people saying today that is it something that you need to do just to have.

00:10:31
Speaker 4: It over with?

00:10:32
Speaker 2: Is the ghost of James Hurd going to hang over the club forever? Don't eventually give him another check exactly?

00:10:36
Speaker 3: I mean Dean Solomon, he hasn't spoken yet. I'm assuming he'll do a press conference later in the week as the interim coach.

00:10:42
Speaker 4: We're not actually sure whether he wants the job. Is the other thing. I mean, Josh Fraser is at Carlton.

00:10:45
Speaker 3: He's been really open that he's not going to pursue that senior position at the Blues. Doesn't think he's ready, So we're not too sure how Dean Solomon feels about it. But Ken Hinckley is another name that's been floated heavily today. He was heavily scouted to come in as I guess a bit of a mental role to Brad Scott and helps sort of guide him a little bit in a coaching director position. So we know that he's really keen to coach again. I know Tasmania has loomed large for him. He's only sixty I think later this year, so obviously has a good few years of coaching left in him and still definitely has the fire in the belly there. So I think he's someone that they'll definitely look at in that sort of tried category. There's the likes of Adam Simpson. There's John Longmeyer in there as well, so there's some really big names in the landscape. I know Nathan Buckley is round about two. I can't imagine how Collingwood people would feel about him going to Essendon, but there's some pretty big names out there along with you know the standout assistant coaches, you Hayden Skipworths, Jamie Grahams who's gone deep in a number of coaching processes, Brendan Laide, you know these guys that are around the competition. It is going to be an interesting strategy though we don't.

00:11:48
Speaker 4: Know Andrew Welsh's a new president.

00:11:50
Speaker 3: Are they going to go for someone who's a season senior coach or a new person?

00:11:54
Speaker 4: The work that out in the weeks to come.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: If you can take anything from that press commence today, he won't be ruling anything in or ruling anything out. We had that about fifteen times.

00:12:01
Speaker 3: Well, that was the question put to him wasn't it. Have you spoken to James and will you speak to James. I'm not ruling it in and I'm not ruling it out.

00:12:07
Speaker 4: So talk about things that you say or don't say.

00:12:09
Speaker 3: He had the opportunity there to be categoric either way, and the door was firmly open.

00:12:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a rebuild edd that feels like it's at rock bottom now. They've won one of their last twenty four games, They've gone twelve months with one victory. Is it a job that coaches will want? And you both said yes, But like, who's going to be applying for this job when it looks like it's such a steep mountain to go on?

00:12:27
Speaker 2: And the Essendon's board just haven't shown faith in their coaches. They've tried everything now, they've tried a succession plan, they've tried a first time coach, and they've tried an experienced coach and none of those things have worked. I do think that they will really want to look at someone like Ken Hinckley. I think the relationships with the players are really important from this point, and Kenny is a relationships man. He forms very close sponds with his players. I think he takes a very different approach to Brad Scott and maybe it's the one that this group needs. Maybe the players need to feel a little bit of love from their senior coach. If Essenon's looking for some kind of uptick and performance with the list that they've gone and to win games in the back end of the season, I think they need those individual players to feel like they've got a better connection with their coach than what they've had.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:13:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw dead coach bounds only two weeks ago West Coast this week. Can they go over there and beat them?

00:13:12
Speaker 2: No? Not with those injuries, surely.

00:13:15
Speaker 4: No, No, I wouldn't think with the injuries.

00:13:17
Speaker 3: I know West Coast felt short of Collingwood on the big Scott Pendlebury occasion on Saturday, but they've been in fantastic form. But I mean, you don't rule anything in and you don't rule anything out to your Josh, as we learned at Essendon today. But they obviously, Andrew Welsh said today they had to take notice out of the corner of their eye of the bounce that they've seen from Carlton Obviously Melbourne after moving on from Simon Goodwin as well. While they're claiming that it didn't factor into their position. I think the shifting energy that both of those clubs would have to be taken into account.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: I am excited about the dead coach derby in a couple of weeks time between Essen and the interim come versus Josh Fraser, that would be good one to watch.

00:13:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe they could swap and be interim interns with each other or something like that. You can rule in definitely on code dot com do you coach spots Okonda, all the news, all the analysis, everything will be breaking around the clock about the S and N coaching situation, So get over there and make sure you're cross that. Make sure we listen to the Integrity Unit each week a new podcasts we've launched get on top of that as well. They'll have plenty of news that on the footy world. Otherwise, make sure you're on code spots dot com dot you