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.
