Essendon’s president told me Brad Scott would be their next flag coach. Here’s what changed

May 26, 2026 — 2:00pm

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Only six weeks ago, Andrew Welsh put on record the Essendon board’s view that Brad Scott was capable of being their next premiership coach.

“We’re of absolute belief that Brad will be our next premiership coach,” Welsh told me, following a briefing on Essendon’s list profile and planning, in which the coach participated and which sold a vision of a club that would not deviate on its youth-led path.

“There’s no reason to think otherwise,” Welsh added.

The president’s comments came after Essendon’s solitary victory so far for 2026, over Melbourne in Gather Round, though it is notable that the club had organised the interviews with this masthead and the Herald Sun before that lonely triumph.

These comments endorsing the coach stand as a source of embarrassment for Essendon’s hierarchy today, as Scott becomes the latest coach to disappear down the Tullamarine trap door, and paid out his contract.

But as with political leaders, any embarrassment about backflips will be overridden by how the change is perceived in the electorate. Essendon fans, as tired of losing as Nate Caddy, will gain some hope, and it is possible that the players, like Carlton’s, will play with more freedom, at least for a short while.

The win-loss ratio for Scott was horrendous, but so were his circumstances.

He took over a club in tumult, and no sooner had he been hired then Kevin Sheedy, appointed to the board to shore up the club politically, went public with his opposition to........

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