Essendon president Andrew Welsh has delivered a major vote of confidence in senior coach Brad Scott, following the club’s first win in 18 attempts at the weekend.
Plus, a Hall of Fame Legend made an eye-opening statement about clubs looking to acquire Zak Butters this year. READ ON IN AFL DAILY.
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Bombers supporters haven’t had much to cheer about in the past year, but the club still believes its senior coach is the right man to lead the rebuilding outfit.
President Welsh, speaking in interviews with both News Corp and The Age, was steadfast in his stance that Scott is the man who will lead the Bombers back to ultimate glory.
“We’re of absolute belief that Brad will be our next premiership coach. There’s no reason for us to think otherwise,” Welsh told The Age.
“We’re seeing the progress in development and across the team, we’re all very aligned on the path that we’ve taken around building the list and the players that we’re bringing in.
“We knew that there were going to be times with a young group that the heat will come, which is why we’ve needed to remain connected internally … we just know it’s probably the unfavorable path and it’s the hard path, but it’s the best path to set the footy club up for success.”
Following the 45-point victory over the Demons, Welsh told the Herald Sun: “It is important performances like Saturday’s really showcases the development and improvement of the team, and we expect that to take its course throughout the year.
“If we get caught up in wins and losses it could really convolute where we are.”
Into his fourth season as Bombers senior coach, Scott has a 29-1-44 record, with Essendon snapping a 17-game losing streak when it toppled Melbourne in Gather Round.
Welsh also told the Herald Sun that the club was vindicated in its decision to hold former captain Zach Merrett to his contract.
“We want Zach to be a long-term Bomber and in our next premiership team,” he said.
“He is one of our only elite players on our list and will continue to be.
“But he spoke as recently at the weekend on how energised he is around not having the captaincy because he has been able to lead in other ways.
“The way he played in the Western Bulldogs game and Melbourne showed why it was critical to keep him last year.”
Merrett is contracted at Essendon through 2027, but the club has begun talks with his management around keeping the five-time Crichton medallist around for longer than that.
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WHY CATS, DOGS CAN’T AFFORD BUTTERS PRICE TAG
Hall of Fame Legend Leigh Matthews doesn’t believe clubs such as Geelong and the Western Bulldogs can afford to pay Zak Butters $2 million or more and remain in premiership contention.
The Cats and Dogs are thought to be the leading candidates to secure top free agent Butters’ services at the end of this season.
But Matthews, speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, believes top-class players like Butters, despite their immense value on the market, “have got to take less to keep a good team together”.
“Thought occurred to me — you guys (Jack Riewoldt and Jordan Lewis) both played in premiership eras, and to keep an era together, I don’t think a Geelong or Bulldogs … I don’t know whether those kinds of clubs can invest a couple million dollars in any player,” he said on Fox Footy.
“(The idea of) worth is supply and demand; it’s only worth what someone’s prepared to offer you … all I’m saying is, from Geelong and the Bulldogs’ point of view, they’ve got good groups and good squads together.
“Marcus Bontempelli — you couldn’t pay him $1.3 million and bring in Butters at $2 million, could you? … keeping teams together, you know, you’ve got to take less to keep a good team together.”
Lewis, a four-time premiership player, explained that players from his and Riewoldt’s eras of flag success would have “strong opinions one way”.
“And that is against paying someone 1, 1.5, 2 million dollars, to then sacrifice a little bit of money to get them in,” he said.
Riewoldt asked Lewis if that was “on the club (offering the deal) or on Butters”.
“It depends what he wants. I mean, there’s evidence out there that suggests that if you take a little bit less to get success, you then might further your career in anything you do post-football,” Lewis said.
“But that’s the challenge. And I think some clubs, historically, have held a hard line, and I think it’s worked.”
If Butters decides to leave Port Adelaide at year’s end, not only will the acquiring club have to fork out a pretty penny to woo him over, but it’ll also need to arrange a high-priced trade as the Power will almost certainly match a contending offer for the restricted free agent.
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WHY THERE’S ‘GROWING HOPE’ OF AFL CHANGE OF HEART
There’s reportedly “growing hope” from clubs that the AFL could “water down” on its proposed draft changes.
The big tweak widely expected to be introduced this year was that clubs would only be allowed to match rival bids with a maximum of two picks — and given the ranging values attached to picks, they’d be giving up premium selections.
It’d mean that unlike Gold Coast and Brisbane have done most expertly in recent years, clubs would not be able to use a raft of less-valuable draft selections to meet the points total required to match.
But with the draft in November and six rounds of this season already in the books, the AFL has still yet to finalise its changes, causing angst in clubland.
And Nine’s Damian Barrett reports that after a “last-ditch” Port Adelaide plea, there’s some “hope” from clubs about a change of heart from the league.
“They (the Power) seized the opportunity of having all the AFL heavies in their town over the weekend (in Gather Round),” Barrett began on Nine’s Footy Classified.
“Whereby chairman David Koch and chief executive officer Matthew Richardson made sure to get well and truly in front of the AFL Commission chairman Craig Drummond and the AFL CEO Andrew Dillon, and others, to have a last-ditch bid to have the AFL delay the mooted changes to the national draft, which would ultimately see them have to pay a whole lot more draft currency for upcoming father-son players.
“They’ve had this last-ditch pitch, and I think the AFL has listened; they’ve listened to Carlton and Essendon as well in this space — they’ve listened to the clubs.
“But the expectation was that it was going to be introduced for the 2026 period, but we are now mid-April … and the AFL still hasn’t articulated exactly how it looks.
“And I think there’s a growing hope, at least from some of these clubs that are mostly adversely affected, potentially that they will water down ever so slightly.”
Port Adelaide is among the clubs most hoping things can stay the same for a little bit longer, as it has top club-tied Next Generation Academy prospect Dougie Cochrane poised to come to the club this year, as well as Zemes Pilot (NGA-tied), Louis Salopek (father-son) and Tevita Rodan (father-son) next year.
Carlton, meanwhile, will be looking to bring in likely top-five prospect Cody Walker as a father-son pick, while Essendon has father-son gun Koby Bewick on the cards for 2027.
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