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\u2018NOT ONE BIT\u2019: SOLOMON\u2019S DEFIANT COACHING STANCE, SCOTT REVEAL<\/p>\n
Interim Essendon coach Dean Solomon says he \u201cwon\u2019t even consider\u201d the prospect of permanently coaching the Bombers, but didn\u2019t rule out doing so down the line. <\/p>\n
The two-club 209-gamer also vehemently denied a rift with former Essendon coach Brad Scott. <\/p>\n
In his first press conference at the Essendon helm, the previous Bombers board member was quizzed on a host of topics just two days after Scott\u2019s sacking. <\/p>\n
One of the first questions asked of the 46-year-old was whether he would put his hand up to do the job on a permanent basis. <\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t even consider that,\u201d Solomon answered without hesitation. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I\u2019m doing this (interim) job, I think it\u2019s the wrong thing to do for me to entertain any thoughts around that. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy last 48 hours has been chaos. I actually don\u2019t have the capacity to take that type of thought on at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Probed on why he wouldn\u2019t give it thought, he said: \u201cJust with the responsibility I\u2019ve got right now, the workload. My heart is with these players and these staff members. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m thinking about something else that\u2019s potentially about me, it\u2019s just the wrong thing to do. I just won\u2019t entertain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon said that any thought given to potentially coaching Essendon permanently \u201cwon\u2019t be in-season\u201d. <\/p>\n
Solomon, who was on Essendon\u2019s board of directors in 2025 before transitioning into the assistant-coaching ranks, said he was at no point consulted about Scott\u2019s performance as coach. <\/p>\n
The 2000 premiership player was asked if the reporting that he and Scott had an \u201cordinary at best\u201d working relationship – per Seven\u2019s Tom Morris – was accurate. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot at all. Not at all. Not one bit,\u201d he defiantly said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBrad and I got on really, really well. I respect Brad – I\u2019ve respected Brad as a player and as a coach. What he was able to achieve, what I\u2019ve learnt from him in the past eight months, him embracing me as an assistant coach to support him – there\u2019s not one part of me that felt there was any bitterness between Brad and I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon explained his first port of call as Essendon coach, with the 1-10 Bombers preparing to travel west to take on the Eagles. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just spoke about it then – there are a couple of little things we\u2019re going to focus on. Our connection, we\u2019re going to make sure we stay together here,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fork-in-the-road moment, isn\u2019t it? We could fracture and fall away, and – it feels heavy right now – but it could feel 15 times heavier if we do that. <\/p>\n
\u201cOr we come together, connect, and we drive strongly to the finish line. That\u2019ll be our major focus. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe spoke around some standards that we\u2019ve identified that we can tidy up, a bit of spirit and fashion about the way we train and play for each other, and for the jumper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon was also asked for his thoughts on James Hird\u2019s desire to coach the club once again, with the ex-mentor officially putting his hand up again two nights ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love the fact that he feels he\u2019s in a position to want to coach again, on a personal level. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad that\u2019s the case. Whether it happens or not – I\u2019m not part of any of those discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018ONE MAN MISSING\u2019 IN COACH CANDIDATES<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon believes there\u2019s \u201cone man missing\u201d from the coach candidates discussion amid three vacancies around the competition. <\/p>\n
Simon Goodwin, now leading Sydney\u2019s offensive strategy under Dean Cox, has the credentials and desire to be a senior coach in the AFL for a second time, with Dixon outlining evidence suggesting he learnt from his mistakes at Melbourne. <\/p>\n
\u201cI opened up the (Herald Sun) this morning \u2026 I\u2019ve looked through the (coaching) candidates, and the list here has 19 – and there\u2019s one man missing: Simon Goodwin,\u201d Dixon began on Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack Preview. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow have we forgotten about Simon Goodwin and what he produced at Melbourne, and where he is today?<\/p>\n
\u201cHis name has not been raised at all. We\u2019re talking about a premiership coach. He built Melbourne – on one of the longest droughts – to a premiership. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these proven coaches are out of the game, they\u2019re not coaching – (Goodwin) is right in the coalface, and he\u2019s at Sydney now, in offence, and I think they\u2019re going OK. He\u2019s learning on the hop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodwin, at his Melbourne exit press conference last year, said: \u201cI\u2019d love to coach again. I love coaching, I love the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dixon said: \u201cThat\u2019s what you want to hear if you\u2019re looking for a coach – and we know Essendon, Carlton, Tasmania, (and) there could be more in years to come. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be listening to that going: \u2018Wow, this is a guy who\u2019s hungry\u2019. He didn\u2019t have a year off \u2026 he\u2019s gone \u2018I\u2019m just going to roll up my sleeves here, go to Sydney and better myself, improve myself\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his last season in charge, despite his eventual dismissal, there was evidence to support the notion that Goodwin had begun to master the modern-day game, leading the Demons as they improved in a host of offensive metrics. <\/p>\n
Melbourne went from 15th in 2024 to sixth in 2025 for chain-to-score rate, 11th to seventh for ball movement, 12th to sixth for score-per-inside-50, and 15th to seventh for inside-50 differential. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen \u2018Goody\u2019 was getting criticised, it (the narrative) was \u2018good defensively, poor offensively\u2019, and he flipped the script – he tried to evolve,\u201d Dixon said. <\/p>\n
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna added: \u201cThere was a misconception last year, when he left, that he was just playing this dour, defensive game style. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was previous. And he made the adjustment \u2026 Last year, he changed that (defensive narrative), he started to play a more offensive brand of footy, and (in the end) what cost them was defensively. <\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, they were much better, but they were getting scored against trying to play a more modern game style and evolve. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s been lost a little bit, that he had changed the way he played.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dean Solomon made a defiant reveal over his relationship with Brad Scott in his first press conference as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24164,63,689,16716,7491,119661,696,6856,40825,340799,3499,12148,143664,340796,340795,340797,13038,1127,68982,2105,43,3231,48340,315629,647,340793,673,44,677,340798,28885,8016,668,340794,8014,150844,670,2801,41,39,42,40,660],"class_list":["post-699572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-assistant-coach","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ball-movement","tag-ben-dixon","tag-board-member","tag-brad-scott","tag-carlton","tag-coach-candidates","tag-coach-candidates-discussion","tag-daniel-pockett","tag-dean-cox","tag-dean-solomon","tag-defensive-game-style","tag-defiant-coaching-stance","tag-defiant-reveal","tag-finish-line","tag-fox-footy","tag-game-style","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-headlines","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-james-hird","tag-man-missing","tag-melbourne","tag-modern-game-style","tag-new-south-wales","tag-news","tag-oceania","tag-offensive-brand","tag-premiership-coach","tag-premiership-player","tag-press-conference","tag-senior-coaching-candidate","tag-simon-goodwin","tag-staff-members","tag-sydney","tag-tasmania","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699572","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=699572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}