{"id":696295,"date":"2026-05-26T19:26:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696295\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:26:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:26:49","slug":"afl-news-2026-essendon-captain-andrew-mcgrath-found-out-brad-scott-was-sacked-while-in-hospital-zach-merrett-comments-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696295\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL News 2026: Essendon captain Andrew McGrath found out Brad Scott was sacked while in hospital; Zach Merrett comments, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> captain Andrew McGrath revealed the brutal moment he was told of senior coach Brad Scott<\/a>‘s departure from the club while in hospital with a broken jaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scott was sacked by the club on Tuesday morning<\/a> following a dismal run for the AFL club that had one victory in 24 games, with Dean Solomon taking over as interim coach.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media in the hours that followed, McGrath said it was “really sad” for the Bombers playing group and admitted the AFL was a “brutal industry”.<\/p>\n

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“I got a phone call this morning in the hospital unfortunately, and then straight here and and met with the boys,” the skipper said.<\/p>\n

“It’s obviously a really sad time for the playing group, we’ve all got a really close connection with Brad. We love Brad and we understand that we live in a really brutal industry at times and our support is with him at the moment and his family.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew McGrath speaks to reporters about Brad Scott’s sacking. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“The initial emotion is disappointment and sadness around the relationship that you have with him and the trust that you build as a captain and a coach, and I can only speak on that, and it feels like we were putting together some really strong foundations.<\/p>\n

“Albeit not showing it on the weekend too much, it feels like the work we’ve been putting together Monday to Friday has been really solid.”<\/p>\n

When was asked if Scott’s sacking was the right call, McGrath deflected.<\/p>\n

“It’s not my decision to answer. I love Brad and I can only talk on my relationship with him,” the 27-year-old said.<\/p>\n

Essendon chief executive Andrew Welsh attempted to control the fallout by gathering players in the club auditorium before it hit the media.<\/p>\n

“We had us all in the auditorium before and let us know of the decision, and a few of the reasons why, and what the process is from here,” McGrath explained.<\/p>\n

“We appreciated the openness at that point in time, but it was disappointing.”<\/p>\n

Some players found out from less formal avenues – namely wantway star Zach Merrett<\/a> who was told by a “random guy” at a coffee shop.<\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/p>\n

Zach Merrett looks dejected after a loss.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I was actually at a coffee shop around the corner from the club and a random guy gave me the news,” the six-time Crichton Medal winner said.<\/p>\n

“Then I headed into the club and was formally told but it’s always really difficult when you spend four years with someone, anyone, but particularly the head coach.<\/p>\n

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

Matthew Lloyd<\/a> has since weighed in on the dismissal, stating that while Essendon is committed to a rebuild, Scott’s failures left the board with no choice.<\/p>\n

“I think the plan that they are set on is just the draft selections, and I think they’ve been really happy with what they’ve done in recent times and some of the youth that they’ve brought in, which has stood up pretty well this year,” he said on 3AW radio.<\/p>\n

“So, I think they’d say that was the plan that they’ve stuck to in terms of going to the draft and investing in youth.<\/p>\n

\"Bombers<\/p>\n

Bombers head coach Brad Scott looks on.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“Round one was a dog’s breakfast defensively in the way they played against Hawthorn, and it didn’t improve the week after against Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n

“There were moments where you thought it could get a little bit better, but it hasn’t.<\/p>\n

“Their senior players…haven’t really performed. I could understand how the board have come to this decision.”<\/p>\n

Essendon will face West Coast on Sunday night. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon captain Andrew McGrath revealed the brutal moment he was told of senior coach Brad Scott‘s departure from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-696295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696295","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=696295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}