Essendon to unleash debutant Jacob Farrow as coach remains optimistic despite losses to Hawthorn and Port Adelaide
Updated ,first published
Essendon will release No. 10 pick Jacob Farrow against North Melbourne on Saturday night as beleaguered coach Brad Scott dismissed a “suddenly” backlash at the selection table and insisted he is optimistic about the team’s future.
A philosophical Scott said the way the Bombers play against the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium “will look very different from what we’ve produced in the first two weeks.”
Scott also dismissed concerns about his coaching future following crushing defeats against Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.
“I’ve been here before. And I know the way out,” he said Thursday morning.
“This is not about me. I try to preach a culture of investing in the team at all costs – ‘don’t be selfish’.
“So it’s not about me. Whatever happens, happens. So when you’re a coach, when you’re a coach, everything ends at some point. It’s just a matter of how and when.”
“It’s like we’re going to die at some point, too. But you don’t spend all your time thinking about that.”
Farrow will become the fourth player to feature in the first three weeks of the Bombers’ season, following Dyson Sharp, Max Kondogiannis and Hussien El Achkar.
Farrow, a halfback and elite kicker from Western Australia, had 31 touches in the VFL in a heavy defeat to Geelong last weekend. He will replace defender Mason Redman, who will be out for six to eight weeks after tearing the meniscus in his knee against Port.
Sharp, who rolled his ankle and was disappointed not to be able to play against Port, is not certain to play against the Roos.
Other changes will be announced Thursday evening, but Scott said he doesn’t believe in making big announcements during the election.
He said the Bombers worked in areas they couldn’t execute in their opening rounds this week.
“There is nothing new in the coaching we have this week but I think we will look different.
“We’re going to make changes because Redman is probably going to be out with a knee injury for six to eight weeks. We probably have other changes, but I’ve never been a big believer in making a statement on the election.”
“You know, the simple philosophy, ‘You force the players to respond, and they either respond or they don’t.’ So you, or I, don’t react rashly anyway.
“But the players know they have to put in the effort, so we’re quite willing to give those players the opportunity to respond.”
Scott said he understands it’s been a rough run for Bombers fans, losing 15 games in a row and not celebrating a win since May of last year.
“Your ordinary fan comes to football every week hoping that his team will win. They don’t analyze it. So this is a challenge,” he said.
“Being an Essendon fan over the last 25 years has been incredibly difficult, so all I can do is reassure everyone that I am extremely optimistic about what we are doing.
“We’ve made some really tough, short-term decisions in the medium and long term. Let’s move on.”
Scott said it was normal for clubs to hold regular player-only meetings, as the Bombers did earlier this week. He said he didn’t get a response.
“I challenge our leaders to be more students of the game and to sit back and be guided. I need them to think about the game,” he said.
“We always have a process for players to ask questions. They will think for the whole group about the way we play and we have a process for that. We do that regularly.”
“Probably when you change your roster to 39 players in three years, it’s going to look a little messy.”
Scott also answered a question in the post-match press conference about being harsh on his players following their defeat to Port Adelaide, particularly his reference to Nate Caddy giving up an easy goal from point-blank range.
“In terms of Nate Caddy and selfishness, I talked to Nate at halftime. I talked to Nate after the game. I talked to the players after the game and then I had a press conference. So they knew exactly what I was talking about,” Scott said.
“But for everyone else, and I won’t do it all the time, but for everyone else, if you make a mistake and you get demoralized by it, and more importantly, if the rest of the team gets demoralized by it, you’re being selfish because you’re thinking about yourself and not the team.”
Scott said the playing group voted for Caddy as player of the week.
“It was an embarrassing moment, not because of his four goals in the second half, but because of his response to what he said in his own words,” Scott said.
“I was harsher on the team in terms of their reaction to that miss in the second half. But the Cads have grown before our eyes in a week. It’s chalk and cheese where it is now compared to six months ago.”
“That’s why players like Caddy can beat a lot of other players, that’s why I’m so optimistic about this group because they’re made of the right stuff.”
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