Sacked Essendon coach Brad Scott spills the beans over $22 million offer

Sacked coach Brad Scott has dropped a bomb on his way out the door at Essendon, revealing a monster $22 million plot.

Scott spoke openly about Essendon’s biggest dramas in recent years after he was shown the door on Tuesday following the club’s tenth defeat in its past 11 games.

The former North Melbourne coach saved his biggest bomb for last as he opened up on the club’s interest in the West Coast star.

The Bombers were one of several clubs linked to Reid before the rare talent re-signed with the Eagles on a short term contract in 2024.

“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,” Scott said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.

“I’m sure every club discussed it.

“But that was certainly the quantum of what it would have taken. $2.2 million, I think, a year, over 10 years. Yeah, and all your draft picks.”

Scott touted the fact he had helped Essendon plan for the future in not pulling the trigger on the offer — giving the club cash to splash in future trade periods.

Scott said he believes the club made the right call.

“It’s not to say he (Redid) would’ve come, but if you do that, my view was that we’re not after a one-player solution,” he said.

“We need to build this sustainably. 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, and I just didn’t think we were at the stage where one player was going to make the difference.”

Despite being cashed up, the Bombers are playing defence in trying to hold onto their most exciting talents.

Caddy said earlier this month he was sick of “mediocrity”.

The star forward has tasted just 11 wins from 37 games to start his career.

Brad Scott says he didn’t see the bullet coming. Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images via AFL Photos)

The 20-year-old is contracted until the end of 2028 but there are already rumblings he could seek a move elsewhere if Essendon’s struggles continue.

Code Sports’ senior footy reporter Jay Clark said on First Crack on Kayo Sports Collingwood and Tasmania “have got their claws into him”.

First round draft pick Elijah Tsatas has also been urged to look for a new club by footy commentators after he found himself dropped out of the side this season.

The biggest trade drama Essendon has faced in recent years was the club’s decision to stand its ground and hold Zach Merrett to his long term contract when he requested to be traded to Hawthorn last year.

In a monumental moment for new chairman Andrew Welsh, the Bombers held firm and left him standing at the altar when the Hawks failed to offer the draft pick hand the Bombers demanded.

Scott said on Tuesday night he believed the club should have granted Merrett’s wish.

Asked “did you agree with that decision (to keep Merrett)”, Scott told Seven’s Agenda Setters: “No.”

Scott Pendlebury and Harley Reid. Picture: Michael Klein.

He explained: “Zach has given incredible service to the Essendon Football Club. He’s been through multiple strategies, multiple coaches, made promises on multiple occasions.

“My view is always you invest in the team, you put the team first, and Zach found that really hard to do at the end of last year. I felt for him, and I felt for his family.

“I didn’t think he was being selfish – I thought he had been promised things over and over again, and he was at his wits end, and he couldn’t invest in the team any more. Now he certainly does through his actions on the field.

“My view was we should let him go, but the club’s view was we should keep him.”

Asked whether he felt it’d be the best thing for Merrett to leave at the end of this year, Scott said: “I do because I think it’s the right thing for him and it’s the right thing for the club.”

Meanwhile, Merrett revealed on Tuesday he found out about Scott’s sacking from a “random guy in a coffee shop”.

“You spend a lot of time together, especially as captain for three of those years, so it’s a sad moment and I’m more so thinking of him and his family,” Merrett said.

“It’s a pretty stressful role for anyone in that position around the competition, so I hope he’s holding up all right.”

Essendon have not won a finals game since 2004

Source: https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/sacked-essendon-coach-brad-scott-spills-the-beans-over-22-million-offer/news-story/bd6ff7eb959e90e050cc245e79e30336