{"id":766674,"date":"2026-06-28T23:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766674\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T23:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:58:13","slug":"afl-news-2026-dean-solomon-issue-in-essendon-coaching-race-as-jay-clark-says-andrew-welsh-faces-toughest-sell-in-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/766674\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Dean Solomon issue in Essendon coaching race as Jay Clark says Andrew Welsh faces \u2018toughest sell in the game\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Permanently handing the senior coaching reins to Dean Solomon would be \u201cthe toughest sell in the game\u201d for Essendon, according to Herald Sun chief football writer Jay Clark, as the Bombers\u2019 lack of improvement under the caretaker coach is exposed.<\/p>\n

Solomon last month was appointed interim coach after the Bombers sacked Brad Scott with a year to run on his contract<\/a> following one win in their previous 24 games.<\/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

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And while there have been minor improvements under Solomon, the Bombers\u2019 losing streak has continued.<\/p>\n

It comes after CODE Sports writer and Midweek Tackle panellist Scott Gullan reported Essendon president Andrew Welsh was \u201cendorsing\u201d Solomon<\/a> \u2013 a former Bombers board member turned interim coach \u2013 as the next full-time Essendon boss.<\/p>\n

But speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack on Sunday night, Clark said the Bombers were \u201cstuck on the tarmac\u201d, adding \u201cthe needle has to move significantly\u201d for Solomon to earn the full-time gig.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there needs to be a massive shift from here to the end of the season for Dean Solomon to get the senior coaching job permanently,\u201d Clark told First Crack.<\/p>\n

Dean Solomon, Interim Senior Coach of the Bombers. Picture: James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could not be getting the job on a winless streak \u2013 and that\u2019s what they\u2019re on, 0-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve examined the Josh Fraser effect (at Carlton). If he\u2019s not going for the job \u2013 let alone getting the job \u2013 and he can\u2019t lose, how can Essendon give it to a bloke who literally can\u2019t win? That\u2019s the comparison at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark pointed to Champion Data numbers comparing Essendon\u2019s performance under Scott and Solomon.<\/p>\n

While they\u2019re conceding considerably fewer points per game under Solomon \u2013 ranked 10th in the league compared to 18th under Scott \u2013 the Bombers remain among the bottom two sides for scores per inside 50 against, defensive 50 to inside 50 against and pressure rating.<\/p>\n

And as Clark pointed out, there\u2019s an asterisk on those improved \u2018points against\u2019 numbers. While the Bombers have conceded an average of 83 points from their past four games, their four opponents have kicked poorly at goal, combining for 45.61. <\/p>\n

\u201cOpposition sides could have put them to the sword more,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

North hold off desperate Bombers | 02:09<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Solomon wants this job, or if he\u2019s going to get the job, there has to be wins on the board and meat on the bone of his strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like the toughest sell in the game for Andrew Welsh to give (the job) to one of his great mates in Dean Solomon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark later added: \u201cBrad Scott got sacked because he wasn\u2019t putting wins on the board. The same thing has to apply for Dean Solomon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow First Crack panellist Leigh Montagna pointed across Solomon\u2019s seven AFL games as senior coach \u2014 including three caretaker matches at the Suns in 2017 \u2014 he had a 0-7 record with an average losing margin of 43 points.<\/p>\n

Clark replied: \u201cOn this evidence, it has to be someone else \u2026 and the Essendon fans just wouldn\u2019t cop it, let\u2019s be honest, based on this.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the spotlight goes on the individual players. Zach Merrett still wants to get to Hawthorn \u2013 surely the Bombers say thanks and do a deal for one or maybe two first-round picks. Jordan Ridley\u2019s headed to the Gold Coast and Darcy Parish wants out. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that sort of mindset infiltrates the group too, that is a hard ship to turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers laid just 35 tackles and had a pressure rating of only 153 in their loss to North Melbourne on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dean Solomon, interim coach of the Bombers. Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

Across the first three quarters, the Kangaroos converted a defensive 50 exit into a score from 43 per cent of those chains \u2013 a whopping 33 per cent up on the AFL average \u2013 an \u201cuncompetitive\u201d showing, according to Montagna.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched today and to me it looked like Essendon had regressed in recent weeks. They were that ordinary they were lucky they didn\u2019t get beaten by 10 goals,\u201d Montagna told First Crack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is most alarming for me is Essendon had 10 players with 100 games or more experience. North Melbourne only had nine. Even with the young players, Essendon had 10 players with less than 40 games and North Melbourne had nine. So this wasn\u2019t some young Essendon team that\u2019s banged up and missing all their players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way they defended \u2026 it was bitterly disappointing in a game where I know North Melbourne fans came into it a bit nervous. But they (the Bombers) were nowhere near it, particularly defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked to me like Essendon had no idea what they were trying to accomplish on defence, but also offensively. I don\u2019t think they knew what their plan was, whether they wanted to go quick, whether they wanted to go slow and how they wanted to move the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Permanently handing the senior coaching reins to Dean Solomon would be \u201cthe toughest sell in the game\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-766674","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\/766674","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=766674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}