{"id":695966,"date":"2026-05-26T15:54:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695966\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:54:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:54:26","slug":"afl-2026-gerard-whateley-whacks-essendon-over-brad-scott-coach-sacking-kevin-sheedy-urges-james-hird-to-take-bombers-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695966\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Gerard Whateley whacks Essendon over Brad Scott coach sacking, Kevin Sheedy urges James Hird to take Bombers job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerard Whateley says Essendon has \u201cmade itself look actively foolish\u201d by sacking Brad Scott<\/a> after publicly endorsing him multiple times, adding it lacked a \u201cfundamental understanding\u201d of its rebuild. <\/p>\n

It comes as Essendon legend Kevin Sheedy has once again thrown his support behind James Hird to be the Bombers\u2019 coach. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scott, after three and a half seasons in charge of trying to lead Essendon back to the finals, was dismissed on Tuesday morning<\/a> halfway through a torrid season at Tullamarine. <\/p>\n

The Bombers are 1-10 this year, with Scott having coached them to 23 losses from their past 24 games. <\/p>\n

The 50-year-old mustered a 135-155-1 record in his time at the Hangar. <\/p>\n

His firing in the early hours on Tuesday came as a shock, however, with Essendon clearly in the toughest phase of its rebuild, and after publicly backing Scott as senior coach. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it flies in the face of the messaging from Essendon this year,\u201d Dees great Garry Lyon told Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360. <\/p>\n

\u201cSix weeks ago, he was their next premiership coach. They\u2019ve suffered six losses \u2026 and today, he\u2019s sacked. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been around long enough, now – boards are with you until they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley said there were two \u201cfatal flaws\u201d in Essendon\u2019s game that contributed most notably to Scott\u2019s demise. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of defensive integrity in the game plan \u2014 that hasn\u2019t been taught, hasn\u2019t been absorbed, and hasn\u2019t been executed. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the lack of the forward handball game, which is really stark for Essendon right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers were a consistently dreadful defensive team under Scott\u2019s tutelage, ranking in the bottom-four for points against in every year he was in charge, including dead-last thus far in \u201826. <\/p>\n

Offensively, they\u2019re third-last for ball movement and third-last for scoring. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not top-six in defence, you\u2019re not winning premierships. They\u2019ve been nowhere near it; they haven\u2019t looked like it,\u201d Lyon added. <\/p>\n

\u201cFooty evolves, and they\u2019re not playing modern footy. Richmond played modern footy (last Friday). That\u2019s what shocked me – that Essendon couldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not embracing the way that the modern game\u2019s played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley was scathing of the new leadership\u2019s decision-making in correspondence with where the club\u2019s list sits. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis club has made itself look actively foolish in the way that it has conducted itself,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to survive the change of the president and the chief executive when you\u2019re not their chosen guy, and so once those positions shift, the ground moves under you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley said Essendon lacked \u201cfundamental understanding\u201d of \u2018the rebuild\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like Essendon set off down the path without fully understanding where it led,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery piece of study around a rebuild said this would be the darkest year – they gave him the bridge to get through the darkest period, and then they still sacked him during the darkest period. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis tells you about the flinch, it tells you about the change in the administration, and it tells you about the lack of fundamental understanding of what it takes to build the long-term path. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you truly pick this path of full-blown rebuild, this is what it looks like. Brad understood it, and put his own coaching tenure at risk by executing it, and then part of Essendon understood it, and part of Essendon didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just last Monday, Scott told AFL 360: \u201cThe fortunate thing for us is our president was on the board when this strategy was put together, and our CEO was on the board when this strategy was put together \u2014 so they are all in on it. I am tasked with the responsibility of leading it; I intend to see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was just six weeks ago to the day that president Andrew Welsh claimed Scott would be Essendon\u2019s next premiership coach, before CEO Tim Roberts a week ago relayed the message of \u201calignment\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cEssendon has just become the worst clich\u00e9 in footy, and that leads you to question everything that they are trying to do,\u201d Whateley said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it makes you wonder where they\u2019re going to end up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Essendon turns its attention to sourcing its next senior coach, and James Hird\u2019s name has been all the rage in the hours since Scott\u2019s exit<\/a> became official. <\/p>\n

Midweek Tackle\u2019s Glenn McFarlane said \u201cthe groundswell is underway\u201d, revealing that Essendon premiership coach Sheedy was once again endorsing Hird to be the club\u2019s mentor. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd not only (has he urged him to apply), he wants him to get the job. So, James Hird (is) very much in the frame, at the moment,\u201d McFarlane told Fox Footy on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

\u201cSheedy told me today that he wants James Hird back to put the \u2018Essendon\u2019 back into a footy club that\u2019s probably lost its identity a bit. <\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, Sheedy is pushing very hard for Hird to return.\u201d<\/p>\n

In McFarlane\u2019s article, which can be read here<\/a>, Sheedy is quoted as saying: \u201cJames Hird should be coaching in the AFL now, he\u2019s been wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED COVERAGE: Big Hird question; twist in scathing Bombers swipe \u2014 Every contender to replace Scott<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerard Whateley says Essendon has \u201cmade itself look actively foolish\u201d by sacking Brad Scott after publicly endorsing him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,36846,107267,64,63,55,639,16716,696,339391,221721,339392,11231,667,339387,18664,10145,61,28450,52619,3231,48340,86147,339389,12136,339388,28885,22401,85,131222,339390],"class_list":["post-695966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-andrew-welsh","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ball-movement","tag-brad-scott","tag-coach-sacking","tag-darkest-period","tag-dreadful-defensive-team","tag-essendon-bombers","tag-footy-club","tag-fundamental-understanding","tag-game-plan","tag-garry-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-glenn-mcfarlane","tag-handball-game","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-james-hird","tag-kevin-sheedy","tag-modern-footy","tag-multiple-occasions","tag-positions-shift","tag-premiership-coach","tag-senior-coach","tag-sports","tag-tim-roberts","tag-worst-cliche"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695966","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=695966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}