Bomber explains Scott’s game plan

ESSENDON utility Kyle Langford has said the Bombers will enter 2023 armed with a new game plan under Brad Scott.

With Scott joining the club in the off-season after the sacking of Ben Rutten, Langford said the former North Melbourne coach has come to The Hangar with his own ideas and hopes to rectify issues the team showed in 2022.

While Langford doesn’t believe the changes have been drastic, he said Scott’s focus on improvement and development has been great as the side hit the ground running under his tutelage.

“I think Brad has come in with his own kind of ideas,” Langford told SEN Afternoons.

“He’s definitely had a look at how we played over the last three years.

“We’re not changing a hell of a lot, but we are tinkering with things both in defence and offence just to make it more efficient for players and scoring.

“It hasn’t been a drastic change and he’s been really good at utilising all of the resources around him in assistant coaches and development coaches.

“He’s just putting in a program that focuses on improvement and development and creating a good culture around that.

“It’s been great to have a fresh voice and some fresh eyes on everything.

“We’ve hit the ground running from day-dot in November, so it’s been pretty good.”

One area in particular where Essendon struggled as they finished 15th last season was their transition defence.

With teams often slingshotting the ball from defence to attack against the Bombers and creating scoring opportunities, Langford said Scott has implemented a method to try and stop such scenarios from playing out this season.

“There’s been a big focus on hard work and a team-first mentality,” Langford said.

“It is different and we’ve taken some time to adjust, we had our first match play hit out last week.

“I didn’t think fitness was an issue, but the way we defended probably didn’t help us.

“We didn’t reserve much energy for the last parts of quarters or the ends of games and I think the way we’re going to play and defend will hopefully be a front-half turnover game.

“We want to keep it nice and compact and turn it over as close to our goal as possible.

“That’ll help us get through games and the boys are flying – as every team is – but we’re just really excited to get into games and start implementing this stuff against the opposition.”

Scott’s first official game in charge of the Bombers comes in round one when Essendon face Hawthorn at the MCG on 19 March.

– BY LACHLAN GELEIT/ SEN