Chapter 1: What is the current situation for Brad Scott at Essendon?
The Bunnings build-up on Crunch Time. Site ready. Site co. Available at Bunnings Warehouse. You're listening to Crunch Time. An eye towards Saturday footy as we bring Crunch Time to its climax. And Essendon, in your thoughts, Tom Morris, as they travel to play the Giants.
It's a big few weeks for Brad Scott. I think... bigger than what many people realise across the industry. He's contracted to the end of next year, but make no mistake, if Essendon sacked him, they can afford to pay him out with the soft cap the way it is. That's not a consideration for them. It's just whether Brad Scott's the right man to take them forward.
And we reported during the week on Agenda Setters that aside from wins and losses, which is not the only metric, there is another metric or another two metrics that Essendon are keeping very close track of. One... is player development, so that is how many players have improved and by how much under Brad Scott. That's across training and across games.
And the second metric is largely team defence, so specifically pressure acts, scores against, those sorts of numbers. And on those numbers, it looks pretty bleak for Brad Scott. They've got a couple of big games coming up against the Giants and the Dockers and then Richmond Eagles and Carlton after that. So it's...
Yeah, I'm not going to say that Brad Scott, it's a matter of when, not if, like what we're saying about Michael Voss, but I think he's in a very delicate, very perilous position more than maybe what we even thought a few weeks ago. But didn't club bosses just... back him to the absolute hilt. But they actually didn't.
So Andrew Welsh, when he spoke, spoke about his desire for Brad Scott to be the next premiership coach, providing his key metrics. So I went and chased what those metrics are. And that's what they are. And they are pretty bleak at the moment.
You can't say that and then within six weeks be sacking the coach. You have to leave your position if you do that. The obsession with speaking publicly there, it was the wrong mistake. You called it beforehand. It was an absolute mistake. Just sit quietly, let things evolve, and then make your decision as you make it. But you can't stand there and profess we are all in on this plan.
And Brad Scott was part of that briefing. We knew the wrinkles that came with it. We are unflinching and unrelenting in pursuit of the overall plan. And then six weeks later, sack the coach. That would be as bad as I've ever seen if that's what comes to fruition.
Well, that's what's very much on the cards if the next few weeks continue on the way the last few weeks have been.
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Chapter 2: What metrics are being used to evaluate Brad Scott's performance?
So that's not a great starting point for them. But they're in a... they're clearly in a development stage and they're clearly, everyone knows, I think, everyone involved with this and seems to know exactly where they are with their development. And it's still quite a way away from being able to turn a lot of those things around that you're talking about.
The interesting one is the player development. Player development is really hard to measure when you're in a poor club. That's right. Because you don't see all these players develop until you get a few more players around them that help them develop.
It's a lot harder to play well as a young player in a poor side than it is in a good side. You see that. The amount of young players that have struggled in a north, for example, to those that are lucky enough to get drafted to a good side like Brisbane... So it's really difficult to compare that.
I think it's tough metrics to measure is what I think Kenny's trying to say here, Tom, and it's not clear-cut.
Yeah, and they're three years into a rebuild by their own admission as well, Gerard. How long have they got to go?
That's a little bit flattering. They've revised their own history to say they're three years in. They're not quite three years in. I can pick the moment where they change their mind.
But it hurts Brad Scott, the fact that the club thinks it's three years into a rebuild, doesn't it? Because it means under him, they've got worse.
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Chapter 3: How are player development and team defense affecting Brad Scott's job stability?
Well, if they're living that delusion, it does. That's right. This is where I can't cop. If they did do it, they have no rights now until the end of the year to reassess anything on their own actions and their own words. Just sit quietly, let it unfold, and then make your decision. But don't get out there and bang the drum in front of everybody.
and then be clearly whispering behind the scenes, hey, we don't know whether this bloke's any good or not.
Saying something can hurt you more.
Oh, I think that's undermining the coach dreadfully. Dreadfully. And it's the one thing you shouldn't do.
Chapter 4: What challenges does Brad Scott face with upcoming games?
Don't undermine your own bloke. It's pick the moment in time where you want to make an assessment. But don't put him on quicksand.
It seems like a strange thing to do, but I think they're trying to manage their expectations with clearly their supporter group and they're trying to keep everyone calm around where they're actually at. But the reality is they're at 17th on the ladder at the moment. So if you're three years in...
It's okay to say you're 17th because Richmond and West Coast are still down the bottom and North have only just got out of there this year. So it might be that next year there is a opportunity to get above really quickly than where they think they've been. But last year, remember the injuries? The injuries were the issue, but they actually weren't so much of the issue.
I think the side wasn't ready to go. One of the last 20 games, I think they've now won. So they've got a bit more work to be done. Six changes, I think, for today's game as well.
Yeah, so Ben Mackay is the big one there. And as frustrated as people are in Ben Mackay, he's as frustrated in himself at the situation. And I think he feels like there hasn't been enough support internally as well. So that's a difficult situation for Brad Scott and the club to manage.
He feels like he hasn't been supported well enough.
But that also is not absolving his own responsibility for playing better footy.
Yeah, and that's where the majority of it lies. He's an experienced player playing in a position that doesn't need a whole lot of support. You play on your man, beat your man, compete. It's not as if he's young. So he gets paid extremely well and has made his coach look foolish with his coach coming out and defending him as strongly as he did only a week ago, calling the criticism lazy.
And then a week later, leaving him out of the side. So Brad's tried to defend him. And in the end, it's been a bit humiliating for Brad as well with the way he's had to handle this.
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Chapter 5: How has the club's communication impacted Brad Scott's position?
And the Giants are in the grip of injury deeper and deeper now, aren't they? So they're... Adam Kingsley had the reassurance. This is what always happens with us, and to some degree it is. It's high stakes today, I think, for both of those teams.
I reckon Adam's tried the big stick, and the big stick hasn't quite returned the results that he needs, and now he's trying the feathers. He's got the feathers and telling the boys, we're okay, we just need to get the squad back together, and we know we've done this before. I think this seems a bit silly because I look at the odds in front of me and I go,
I think Essendon have got a sneaky chance in this game if they can bring their absolute best around the ball because I think their best around the ball is still pretty solid. And Caddy seems to be emerging as we look at him play. It's a little danger game, but then the odds tell me it should be a 60-point win to the Giants.
No, I don't feel that way. I'm a bit with you. What about Collingwood Geelong tonight at the G?
I always look at Collingwood's changes, and it's funny to me when the senior players come back, it's always the youngsters that get dropped. So it's always the same ones that get dropped, and it's exactly where they are. So how McCreary, Pendlebury come back in, who's going to get... Oh, it's the young players. They're just... The lack of any sort of youth coming through would concern me.
It has done for a while. Who else did you want them to drop? Well, that's the point. They don't have any.
No, but who else did you think they should drop to keep some of the young players in?
No, I just think at some point you're going to have to prioritise those young players and find out whether they're any good, whether they're trying to gain players because... You're going to keep going back to Howe and Pendlebury every time. And these players is not going to get you where you need to in the future.
Not to say they're not extremely well coached and well drilled and they're hard to score against. I get it. But, I mean, Geelong should be winning this game.
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