‘Reluctant to say’: Bombers coach’s timid praise for peers amid ‘frustrating’ reality in skid

'Not sure you can get suspended...' | 09:24

Essendon coach Brad Scott praised his assistant coaching group following its 44-point loss to Geelong on Friday night — something he was “really reluctant” to do given the “circumstances they’ve been working in”.

The Bombers were gallant in defeat at Kardinia Park, booting five goals in the third quarter to get within 20 points of the Cats and send a small shiver through the home side.

But Geelong ultimately recorded 34 scoring shots to Essendon’s 15, as well as nine more clearances and 10 more marks inside 50 to consign the visitors to their 10th-straight loss.

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“We have a real challenge, at the moment, with our inside-50 connection ... two of our key forwards were taken in the mid-season draft, so there hasn’t been a whole lot of time to work on that connection, and it’s still clearly not at the level we need it to be,” Scott said during his post-match press conference.

“The hardest thing is probably getting the supply, and we edged in front in the inside-50 count in the last quarter (losing 47-52) ... overall, we competed really well, and we were beaten by a better side.

“The reality is, they had more than double the amount of scoring shots we had. They were probably a bit more inaccurate than they usually are, but they still transitioned the ball really well, scored really efficiently even though they didn’t kick straight. We were outplayed, but I didn’t think we let ourselves down in the contest.”

Prompted on brother Chris’ standing as one of the highest-regarded coaches in the competition — with a career 68 per cent win rate — Scott spoke of the Cats’ “special” system that his Bombers were “aspiring to emulate”.

“(His) record speaks for itself,” Scott began.

“The thing about coaching, I mean, we’re going through a real coaching challenge, and I’m really enthusiastic about the challenge, although in somewhat of a morbid way. It’s not what you’d want, but this is a huge challenge for us at the moment.

“But I think what stands about the Geelong Football Club is they’ve just always been a very strong club in the modern era, but they’ve ... rejuvenated it year after year after year, and you look at players like Gryan Miers, Brad Close, Tom Atkins — guys who come in and now I would regard as elite players in the competition who were overlooked by almost all of us.

“And so, that speaks more to system and coaching than it does just purely the talent ... all coaches love coaching great players, because those great players tend to make you better coaches, but the real art of it is being able to improve players regardless of where they come from in the draft, and Geelong have just found a way — so, that builds something pretty special, and it’s something we aspire to emulate.”

Asked how far off the Bombers are from being where the Cats are in that regard, Scott said: “It’s only really judged in the fullness of time. You can be taking the steps forward without it being noticeable.

“And again, that’s the thing. I’ve been rapt with the job that our assistant coaches have done this year, but I’ve been really reluctant to say that because there’s a scoreboard, and people would say ‘how can you say they’ve done a great job?’

“Well, they have done a great job with the circumstances that they’ve been working in.”

The Bombers entered Round 22 with 15 players on their injury list — 12 of which have either already been ruled out for the season or have uncertain timelines — with another in Archie May potentially set to join that ailing crop.

“And when it comes to culture, it’s largely intangible, because measuring culture, I mean, people only really measure it from wins and losses over time. So, we’re working extremely hard in that space,” Scott continued.

“I’m firm in the belief that we’re taking good strides forward in that area, but we won’t be able to see it until it’s in the rear-view mirror, and it’s the fullness of time sort of thing that’s frustrating, because you want it to happen tomorrow, but the reality is it takes some time.”

Scott said first-year key forward May had “at minimum” an ankle sprain and would get scans on Saturday.

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