Scott sees hard yards out west despite Eagles’ woes
Roger Vaughan |
Brad Scott’s AFL road to Perth has always been always paved with hard labour.
The Essendon coach will hear nothing of the inevitable talk they are hot favourites for their away Good Friday game against West Coast.
While the Bombers are coming off wins over Port Adelaide and Melbourne, West Coast are 0-5 and bottom of the ladder.
“In all of my time in football, I’ve never gone to Perth thinking ‘this is just going to be a walk in the park’,” he said on Tuesday.
“Every time you travel to Perth, it’s going to be a hard game.”
Scott pointed to Port Adelaide’s extraordinary first half on Sunday night against Hawthorn on the way to their shock win.
“No-one predicted the score at half-time – anywhere near it or anything like it,” he said.
“All it does is remind us that if you’re bit off and the opposition are on, anyone can expose anyone.
“That’s certainly the case this week.”
No AFL coach would say anything different, but Scott noted the Eagles were four goals up at half-time in round two against reigning premiers Brisbane.
“We’re coming up against a very proud football club that still, in my opinion, have a lot of capability in their side,” he said.
“It’s pretty easy for us … halfway through the second quarter they’re 30-odd points up and looking like a very good team.
“There’s evidence everywhere for what teams are capable of.”
Scott referred to their “AFL rollercoaster”, not only in terms of his team’s form, but also the season-ending knee injury for Nick Bryan.
The ruckman will need a reconstruction after he was hurt against the Demons.
Scott is yet to decide how Essendon will replace Bryan as the back-up for Sam Draper, with Todd Goldstein and Peter Wright potential tall options.
“We think it will just be a small setback – it seems like a big one at the moment,” Scott said of Bryan.
“But if we look at the totality of his career and what we expect his career to be with us, it’s going to be a small blip on the radar.”
AAP
