{"id":652726,"date":"2026-05-06T06:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652726\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T06:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:24:13","slug":"western-bulldogs-captain-declared-fit-despite-knee-and-heel-concerns-for-port-adelaide-clash-in-afl-round-9-brad-scott-urges-essendon-bombers-to-heed-whiteboard-lessons-and-backs-na","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652726\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs captain declared fit despite knee and heel concerns for Port Adelaide clash in AFL round 9; Brad Scott urges Essendon Bombers to heed \u2018whiteboard\u2019 lessons and backs Nate Caddy after \u2018mediocrity\u2019 comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated May 6, 2026 \u2014 2:50pm,first published 11:24am<\/p>\n

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In today\u2019s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli has another injury concern but has been declared fit to play against Port Adelaide on Friday night.Essendon coach Brad Scott has opened on the whiteboard saga, Nate Caddy\u2019s contentious \u2018mediocrity\u2019 comments and taken a swipe at the AFL over its response to the Elijah Hollands case.The two injuries Bontempelli is carrying<\/p>\n

Andrew Wu<\/p>\n

Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli has another injury concern but has been declared fit to play against Port Adelaide on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Dogs coach Luke Beveridge has revealed Bontempelli is also battling a heel problem on top of the knee issue that he has been carrying<\/a> since the heavy defeat to Geelong three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Veteran Tom Liberatore<\/a> will need a month to recover after undergoing knee surgery, but his future is still clouded while he remains under concussion protocols.<\/p>\n

Bontempelli began training alongside ruckman Tim English in the Bulldogs\u2019 rehab group and took only a limited part in the club\u2019s main session on Wednesday, as forecast by Beveridge.<\/p>\n

\"WalkingWalking wounded: Skipper Marcus Bontempelli has been prominent for the Dogs.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious to you he\u2019s had a sore knee, but he\u2019s had a bruised heel that he\u2019s been dealing with,\u201d Beveridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the main thing I\u2019ve been worried about. It\u2019s the main reason he was limping a bit in the game just gone, but he\u2019s been able to deal with that, manage it a little bit with our medicos, and he\u2019s pretty confident he should be available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bontempelli is one of the most durable players in the competition, missing only 12 games since his debut in 2014. Coming off four straight losses, the Dogs do not have the luxury of giving their superstar player a week off to rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty high bar as far as the pain threshold for him with discomfort, and he wants to play,\u201d Beveridge said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to talk him out of doing that. He\u2019d be the first to tell us. He\u2019s missed a game here and there, as you know, and he missed the start of last year because he had to, but if he\u2019s really compromised in anything, then he definitely won\u2019t play, and we\u2019re not at that point at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

English returned last round after missing three games with a knee injury. He spent the first part of training running on the boundary line but joined in later drills.<\/p>\n

Veteran midfielder Adam Treloar, who missed the loss to Fremantle while being managed, will not return this week or play in the VFL due to Footscray having a bye.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis high-intensity running side of his game, which has always been a great strength of his, is just compromised at the moment,\u201d Beveridge said. \u201cSo he\u2019s working out whether he can get to that point where it\u2019s really going to challenge opposition midfields at AFL level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Go about changing it\u2019: How Scott wants his players to use whiteboard saga<\/p>\n

Jon Pierik<\/p>\n

Essendon coach Brad Scott has urged his players to change the football world\u2019s perception of them following the whiteboard saga.<\/p>\n

The Brisbane Lions\u2019 thumping win over the Bombers last Saturday was overshadowed by the publication of a picture of a whiteboard showing the Lions\u2019 scouting report of their opponents.<\/a><\/p>\n

The whiteboard listed the strengths and weaknesses of Essendon players, including Zach Merrett and Kyle Langford, who were deemed \u201cselfish\u201d, Sam Durham for being a \u201chot head\u201d, and a reference to former Lion Jaxon Prior\u2019s only strength being his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

\"TakeTake a stand: Essendon coach Brad Scott wants his players to change the perception the Lions had of them.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lions coach Chris Fagan has said there was nothing malicious behind the comments, while Scott said on Wednesday there had been no need for the Lions to issue a \u201cpersonal apology\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Scott now wants his players to use the Lions\u2019 feedback to their advantage.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI said post-game it\u2019s an issue for Brisbane to deal with. My understanding is they do that for every club, we\u2019re just the club that had it published,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our perspective, it probably does give me an opportunity to talk to our players about certain things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt forces me also to follow up with certain players about what we think of them because that\u2019s more important, but don\u2019t ignore the external views.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s public views but certainly when that comes from an opposition club who analyse you. You can choose to just ignore it and pretend it\u2019s wrong, or you can think about it and analyse it and if that\u2019s the perception, go about changing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"g\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott said Prior was fine but had wished \u201cthat it didn\u2019t happen, and he didn\u2019t have to deal with it\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the struggling 1-7 Bombers prepare to face GWS at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, Scott also said he backed Nate Caddy\u2019s raw post-match comments on 3AW, where the frustrated forward declared he was tired of \u201cmediocrity\u201d at Essendon amid a years-long rebuild.<\/p>\n

Caddy has won less than a third of his 34 AFL matches, Scott embracing the competitiveness of his athletic forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it. I talk to Nate a lot about his competitiveness, his quite explicit desire to lead our forward line as a third-year player,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s explicit in his desire to lead the club into a period of success, and he\u2019s hungry for that. He\u2019s impatient, and I am so excited about that because he\u2019s the ultimate competitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to do that with Essendon, he loves the place, he loves the environment, and while he\u2019s young, he\u2019s not in the category of trying to establish his career.<\/p>\n

\"TiredTired of mediocrity: Bombers forward Nate Caddy.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s now switched from being excited about playing AFL footy to now, \u2018I want to drive this team forward\u2019. I have seen that growth in him almost week-by-week this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

While former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has suggested Caddy\u2019s comments could indicate he wanted to chase success elsewhere, Scott insisted that was not the case, nor the case with other emerging Bombers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in my experience, being in the game as a head coach for whatever it is \u2026 I haven\u2019t seen that,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have coached, the majority of the time, I\u2019ve coached young developing sides. We\u2019ve recruited guys who are fully invested, and they are, taking in the Nate example, starting to take responsibility of the fortunes in the club\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caddy is contracted until the end of 2028.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated May 6, 2026 \u2014 2:50pm,first published 11:24am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-652726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}