Brad Scott’s exit from North Melbourne in 2019 was very different from his sacking at Essendon this week. “Brad’s offer to step aside is nothing short of selfless and honourable – terms befitting his character,” Kangaroos president Ben Buckley said at the time. “There’s nothing but blue sky for North,” Scott said. He said it three times. He thanked the individual board members, the coterie groups and even the media. But many thought he had left North’s list in tatters. David King called him “a visitor”. Certainly the backside completely fell out of the Roos in the years after he left.
Scott wasn’t at the press conference announcing his departure from the Bombers on Tuesday. Most agree that he wasn’t the right fit, and probably never had been. He’d never been fully embraced by Essendon people, or the senior players. There was always a lingering doubt over the state he left North Melbourne in. There was always the sense that he was an outsider.
The selection panel that recommended his hiring included former schoolmate Josh Mahoney, who no longer works in football; Andrew Thorburn, who later became one of the shortest-lived CEOs in corporate history; and Jordan Lewis and Robert Walls, who didn’t have a track record of loving Essendon. It was a tough job to succeed in. He was burdened with the mistakes of previous regimes. There was instability all around him. The clarity, alignment and messaging over whether the club was actually rebuilding came far too late. And he had a wretched run with injuries.
Scott was on Channel Seven last night and spoke well, as sacked coaches invariably do. When he was coaching, everything he said came with a certain defiance. Everything was a variation of “I inherited a mess, it’s not my fault, give me time and space”. But he no longer had to toe the company line. He spoke about the failings of a club that has never properly moved on from the supplements scandal, a club that has been desperate for instant success.
For some, the answer lies with the man Scott blanketed in a grand final a quarter of a century ago. James Hird came within a hair of reclaiming the top job in September 2022. Autodidactic and gnomic, a cloud dweller and a street fighter, former coach Kevin Sheedy was on Lindsay Fox’s luxury yacht, sailing around the world with hundreds of movers and shakers to celebrate the trucking magnate’s 85th birthday. He was confident that Hird would be appointed, and that the old Essendon was back. Back on dry land a fortnight later, he was informed his man had missed out.
Nearly four years on, the spectre of Hird still looms large. It’s hard to think of a player more revered by his supporter base – Lenny Hayes and Trevor Barker at St Kilda or Robbie Flower at Melbourne perhaps. A few months before Hird missed out on the top job, he and Sheedy were the headline acts at Essendon’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Dressed for the boardroom, carrying a Sherrin and sporting what appeared to be a straight face, Hird emerged through a thick plume of smoke at the MCG. It was an astonishing scene. The current players and the old legends linked arms and formed a circle in the goal square. It was as though a bunch of 19-year-olds from private schools were supposed to channel the spirit of Ronnie Andrews and Billy Duckworth. At the top of the Carlton race, Patrick Cripps had a chuckle, licked his palms, bludgeoned his way to about a dozen contested possessions in the first term, and blew the anniversary boys back to Tullamarine.
The past is always present at Essendon. It’s there when Sheedy and the old legends are waving their scarves prior to games. It’s there in the board rumblings. It’s there in the commentary from their former players in the media – a variation of “why can’t this current lot care as much as we did?” And it was there on Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday night, when Hird spoke of making Essendon great again.
On the cusp of the disastrous 2013 season, Hird toured Real Madrid Football Club and sought out José Mourinho. “What’s the secret to your success?” he asked. The “Special One” jutted his jaw and sized up this antipodean golden boy. “Win, quick,” he said.
Hird was a man in a hurry then. It nearly destroyed Essendon. It nearly cost him his life. And it’s the last thing a young, rebuilding list needs right now. He hasn’t been a senior coach for 11 years. He’s had two cracks at the top job. He’s still freighted with the baggage of the supplements scandal. There are some excellent candidates who would offer a new start and fresh eyes. There’s potential on this playing list. There’s a sleeping giant threatening to awaken. To defer to the past and to pin their hopes on a messiah figure would be a monumental mistake from a club that has made more than most.
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