Brad Scott's 'celebrated not ridiculed' line shows how much work is required in Essendon's culture reset

In the Australian Football League (AFL) calendar, February is typically the month for clubs to make public appearances, give media interviews, and shoot promotional photos. Each club is filled with confidence and anticipation for the upcoming season, but it is also often plagued by tired clichés that can become tedious.

Essendon coach Brad Scott gave a detailed interview to *The Age* this week, outlining how the club has been "reset" since he took over from Ben Rutten at the end of 2022. In the interview, Scott specifically mentioned the efforts of 20-year-old midfielder Elijah Tsatas to improve his individual skills during the off-season.

Tsatas was a top-five pick in the 2022 draft, but has only made 11 appearances at AFL level to date. His playing time has been limited, partly because his kicking skills need improvement, and partly because several experienced teammates occupy his preferred midfield position. It is widely expected that he will have a breakout season in 2025.

Scott said in his interview with *The Age*: "The amount of work that Elijah Tsatas has put into his training program above the AFL player benchmark is now being applauded rather than ridiculed." Scott's remarks reveal a long-standing problem at Essendon, namely that players who work hard are ridiculed, which is unimaginable in a professional sports club.

Scott's comments also explain why Essendon has produced so few truly top-tier players over the past two decades, while other clubs have seen a succession of superstars emerge. This also explains why Essendon hasn't even come close to a premiership since their last flag in 2000. If young players enter an environment where they are ridiculed by senior teammates for working hard, they are unlikely to put in the effort.

Scott's remarks also revealed why the only player in the team who has consistently maintained a high level of professionalism throughout his career, current captain and five-time best and fairest Zach Merrett, was voted out of the leadership group by his teammates in 2020, despite being vice-captain the previous year. This decision was puzzling at the time and remains so.

So, what does all this mean for Essendon's prospects in 2025? Many experts predict that Essendon will once again finish in the bottom half of the ladder. They rank 11th in the AFL by games played and have the fourth youngest list in the league. New list manager Matt Rosa's off-season recruiting strategy is markedly different from that of his predecessor, Adrian Dodoro, who tended to make eye-catching moves and quick fixes at the trade table in pursuit of a finals berth. Rosa will build the team gradually in the right way.

With 19-year-old draftee Nate Caddy becoming the focus of the summer trade market, Essendon clearly hopes to drive the team up the ladder in 2025 through internal growth and continuity. Merrett said in an interview earlier this season: "The most important thing is stability at the club. Going into year three (under Scott) and having the same people in charge, we are getting clearer and clearer on expectations, game plan and how to implement it... individuals are also learning how to improve."

Continuity both on and off the field is a good thing, but Essendon fans will undoubtedly still experience some growing pains. While Caddy and his fellow teenage forward Isaac Kako will bring excitement to the season, they are both teenagers who are not yet ready to lead a fallen giant back to the top, at least not yet. No one at Essendon will admit this publicly, but there is also hope of addition by subtraction, especially with Jack Stringer, despite kicking 42 goals last year, his trade value was low.

The fact that Stringer's agent failed to successfully market him to some of the AFL's best clubs tells you what the league thinks of him. Stringer should thrive at the Giants, where he can simply fit into an already established culture of success and professionalism, rather than being expected to set the standard as one of the experienced players, as he was at Essendon. Experts and opposition fans will be quick to mock Essendon if he gets off to a good start, but that won't change the fact that the club was right to let him go. This is the kind of strong move that Essendon typically wouldn't have made in the past two decades.

In any sport, the most difficult part of working for a club that is hungry for success, especially a club with a rich history like Essendon, is dealing with the pressure of a long drought. Scott, Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo, and Rosa are not only trying to build a successful team for this season and beyond, but they are also effectively being asked to pay the price for the mistakes of previous regimes that turned Essendon from a powerhouse into a laughing stock. These simultaneous paths are difficult to navigate because many of the decisions made to correct the culture will not immediately translate into wins on the field; they simply require trust and patience from the fans that victory will eventually come.

However, asking members of a club that has given them virtually no reason to trust the process and be patient since their last premiership trophy is a difficult thing to do. So far, this regime has said and done all the right things. Scott's first two seasons have been remarkably similar. Both resulted in 11 wins and both started with a good start followed by a disappointing late-season fade. After missing the finals in their first two seasons, Scott and Vozzo have both publicly stated that the goal for 2025 is to make the finals, something they refused to say publicly heading into 2023 and 2024.

Scott has ensured that his team is fundamentally competitive. In his 11 full seasons as coach of Essendon and North Melbourne, only once has his team won fewer than 10 games. His current coaching record is 124 wins, 124 losses and 1 draw in 249 games. The question is whether he has the ability to elevate a team from being competitive to being a force to be reckoned with. This is the hardest leap to make, but it is not impossible, and Essendon only needs to look at some of their fiercest rivals for encouragement.

Last year, Hawthorn rose from 16th to within a goal of a preliminary final without making any eye-catching additions at the trade table. Similarly, in 2023, Carlton rose from ninth to a preliminary final with Blake Acres their major trade acquisition. After supporting one of the most unstable clubs in the AFL for the past two decades, having a competitive football team is a welcome sight for Essendon fans. However, simple competitiveness will only satisfy Essendon fans for so long, and genuine tangible success is the only thing that will do. This Essendon regime is rapidly approaching that moment.