Ousted Essendon coach Brad Scott has revealed he wanted Zach Merrett traded to Hawthorn last summer while also confirming the club considered tabling a monster contract offer for West Coast star Harley Reid.
In his first interview since being sacked as the Bombers’ coach, Scott said the club was still probably a couple of years away from being a competitive finals team.
He said the decision to sack him came as a surprise, but he understood it because of the mounting pressure brought by Essendon’s woeful form.
Scott’s stunning revelation came as former Essendon coach James Hird confirmed he was interested in returning to the role to be Scott’s successor.
“If I am the best man for the job, yes, I would love to do that job,” Hird told Nine’s Footy Classified.
Essendon president Andrew Welsh, who was central in the decision to block Merrett’s trade to the Hawks last year, is adamant the Bombers “won’t be pushed around” even as they have sunk further into the doldrums.
But Scott told Seven’s Agenda Setters the decision to hold Merrett to his contract was the club’s.
“I didn’t think he was being selfish. He had been promised things over and over again, and he was at his wits’ end,” he said.
“He couldn’t invest in the team any more. My view was we should let him go.”
After his failed move to Hawthorn, Merrett is again expected to seek an exit at the end of this season, with more suitors outside of the Hawks linked to his services.
“It’s the right thing for him, and it’s the right thing for the club,” Scott said.
Speaking at a separate event on Tuesday night, Merrett confirmed his relationship with Hird remains “very strong”.
Merrett (pictured) said he still maintains a “very strong” relationship with Hird, his former coach. (AAP: Daniel Pockett)
“He’s been a great mentor and someone I can always confide in,” he said.
“From that perspective, I really get on well with him. He’s got a great viewpoint on the game.
“In terms of coaching, it’s just such a good one for headlines. I’m not sure if it will eventuate or not.”
Merrett noted it had been a “whirlwind 24 hours all-round”, also paying tribute to fellow former Essendon captain Neale Daniher after his death on Monday.
The star Bombers midfielder was asked what Scott’s sacking might mean for his future, given the speculation remains that he will again seek a trade after this season.
“I can’t — I woke up this morning assuming Brad was coach. I don’t think it’s the right point in time to have that conversation,”
he said.
Welsh also said on Tuesday that the Bombers expect Merrett to see out his contract to the end of next season.
Merrett found out about Scott’s sacking by chance on Tuesday morning, hearing it from a fellow customer at a cafe near the club’s Tullamarine headquarters.
“These things obviously get out quickly. There was probably never going to be a nice way or good way to find that out,” Merrett said.
“I’m human, obviously. To have gone through five coaches now … you want to think about yourself, but it’s a team sport.
“You quickly try and pull yourself back into not making excuses and getting to work — we have so many players who haven’t experienced this before.
“It’s been one of those days.”
Scott also spoke candidly about reports Essendon weighed up a 10-year, $22 million contract offer to Reid, who is a Victorian native.
“Harley is an incredible player, and I don’t think Essendon were the only club that was very interested in trying to lure Harley back to Victoria,” he said.
“I’m sure every club discussed it, but yeah, that [offer] was certainly the quantum of what it would’ve taken.
“It’s not to say he would’ve come, but if you do that, my view was that we’re not after a one-player solution. We need to build this sustainably.
Scott said a trade for Reid would have seen Essendon lose the likes of promising young forward Nate Caddy (left). (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)
“If we’d done that, for instance, we would’ve traded all our picks, so there’d be no [Nate] Caddy, there’d be no [Isaac] Kako, there’d be no [Dyson] Sharp, [Sullivan] Robey or [Jacob] Farrow, but we’d have Harley.
“I just didn’t think we were at the stage where one player was going to make the difference.”
Asked how long before they would be a competitive team in the finals, Scott replied: “It’s probably a couple of years away.”
While the sacking surprised Scott, who had a year left on his contract, he added he had enough football experience to understand why.
Scott maintained that he had a good relationship with now-interim Essendon coach Dean Solomon (pictured), who was one of his assistants. (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)
“It felt like business as usual to me. I still believe in the plan, and I was committed to seeing it through,” he said.
“It was surprising, but in a way … it’s not surprising, because pressure does strange things.
“I knew it was going to be hard. I underestimated just how hard.”
Scott also refuted speculation of a rift with Dean Solomon, who now takes over as interim coach. Solomon was part of Essendon’s last premiership team in 2000 and is a former teammate of Hird and Welsh.
“We get along really well,” Scott said. “He’s a rock-solid Essendon person.”
Hours after news broke on Tuesday morning that Scott was gone, Welsh was adamant he was not merely bringing back an ‘old Essendon’ boys’ club.
There has long been agitation among powerful groups of Bomber fans for club champion Hird, who was among those who missed out to Scott in 2022, to return to the hot seat.
Hird took the helm in 2010 but was suspended for the 2014 season for bringing the game into disrepute for his role in the Essendon drugs saga.
He returned to the post but resigned in August 2015 with a final record of 41 wins, 42 losses and one draw.
Welsh was pressed on whether he was looking to bring back ‘old Essendon’.
He said it was “not in consideration at all” for Essendon to base their decisions on bringing back former Bombers figures to get the club moving again.
“I hear a lot around ‘old Essendon’, ‘new Essendon’, ‘boys club’,” he said.
“I look at other clubs that, respectfully, Sam Mitchell’s gone back to Hawthorn and is doing an amazing job, I look at [Justin] Longmuir over in Fremantle, [Josh] Carr’s gone back to Port Adelaide.
“So I think there’s some really good history around players going back to clubs and the right people for those groups going to those clubs.”
AAP/ABC
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