“But in terms of Andrew in particular, and the AFL’s willingness to listen and for the coaches’ voices to be heard, I thought it was really positive.”
Loading
Unlike previous years, this meeting was a small affair – upstairs in a quiet setting at Fitzroy pub. There was no jangling of wine bottles or fumbling with the intercom while waiting at former CEO Gillon McLachlan’s Toorak gate.
“Gill liked to put on a big spread at his own house with all coaches present,” Scott said.
“But in the last few years, you know, we’ve discussed that it’s a challenge to have all 18 coaches plus an AFL executive to have meaningful discussion.
“So we’ve broken it into smaller groups so that we can give other coaches more of a voice, rather than just be a member of 18 people talking.”
Scott said Monday night’s meeting had been one of many between the AFL executive and different groups of coaches and last night was simply his turn.
“You guys just missed the fact that there’s been a couple of these already,” he said.
“I’m not sure there’s a pecking order; I just accepted the invitation.”
The AFL has been under fire over the past fortnight for the way it handed the Willie Rioli saga, the Lachie Schultz concussion fallout and reports that the league would be soon parting ways with senior executive Tanya Hosch. But Scott said he retained confidence in the competition’s most senior figure.
“I’ve got the utmost faith and confidence in Andrew Dillon’s capability to do the job,” Scott said.
“I think he’s an exceptional administrator. I’ve seen firsthand how talented he is, and he’s in a very difficult role, where you know that you’re going to be faced with really difficult decisions, and you’ve got to make decisions that are going to be unpopular at times, and you’ll go through cycles where you make some mistakes, and you own those mistakes, and you move forward.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon had dinner with Scott and other senior coaches on Monday night.Credit: AFL Photos
“But in terms of the calibre of people we have, you know, leading the game in terms of the AFL executive event and the commission, I think we’re very well-placed.”
The Bombers coach did not make specific reference to any other members of the AFL executive. He only referred to the extra dinner guests at the Builders’ Arms – reportedly league football boss Laura Kane and footy performance boss Josh Mahoney – as Dillon’s staff.
“The reason I was so optimistic last night is because there was active listening going on,” Scott said.
“They were engaged in the discussion. They asked as many questions as, you know, as we asked of them.
“There seems to be a really broad understanding of the issues that I think the football departments, represented by the coaches, have raised.
“The challenge with the game is that there’s investment required in a whole vast array of different areas, and so it’s a matter of how you distribute and divide up that pie.
“As I said, I think there’s been a bit of a breakdown in terms of the understanding from headquarters as to the challenges football departments face.
“But last night was a really good step in the right direction.”
Scott said the group discussed numerous topics of concern including the soft cap and football departments, which have been “prioritised less” since the COVID-19 years.
“There were certainly no requests made in terms of what [soft cap] numbers should be. It was more just how we look at prioritising things,” he said.
“[But the night] was a really, really productive discussion around the general health of the game.
“So recruiting pathways were a big part of it, the role of AFL academies, how we generally develop talent, and make sure that the AFL stays as really the first choice sport for elite boys and girls across this country.
Loading
“I think coaches have a big role to play in that, in terms of their expertise as to how to develop talent, what talent pathways look like, and probably who takes the responsibility for developing talent.
“We’re obviously playing a massive game this Friday night at the MCG, Dreamtime at the ’G, and we’re looking to foster Indigenous pathways, and that’s something that I think we can always do better.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
