FOLLOW THE LEADER

“The myth in modern footy is that players can’t take criticism, or can’t take feedback,” Brad Scott muses.

“The controlled spray if you like, there’s still a place for it. But I could count on one hand the amount of times over a number of years you actually do it.”

Despite a sometimes-fearsome reputation built during his decade at North Melbourne, in reality, life under Scott inside the NEC Hangar is much more measured, much more calculated.

“That doesn’t mean they don’t get hit between the eyes, but I like to back it up with facts. Don’t give the player an opinion ‘this is what I think’. Back it up with evidence.”

Of course, it’s easier during the summer when there’s so much optimism ahead of a new season, under a new regime.

But with a practice match against Gold Coast looming, there’s still an edge about the work being done behind-the-scenes. By 8am, Dyson Heppell and Peter Wright are already seated at the players’ desks in the football department.

The coaches’ offices – including Scott’s – surround a lounge area and rows of computers that look more like your standard work office than the heart of a football club.

Heppell jokes he’s looking at Youtube highlights of himself. In truth, it’s vision that’s been ‘coded’ - clipped up - from the club’s match simulation at training a few days earlier.

Wright, meanwhile, is studying the last time he played against his old club, the SUNS.

“They’ll be different with the way they defend, but I just like to be as prepared as possible,” Wright says.

“It’s about how I can get an advantage. I want to go out there and apply some things that I can apply in-season.”

It’s that attention to detail that helped propel Wright to his Crichton Medal-winning season at Tullamarine, with forwards coach Dale Tapping even going as far as to compare his meticulous preparation to the likes of Scott Pendlebury or Lachie Neale.

“I’ve worked with those guys at Collingwood and Brisbane… and Pete’s right up there with them. He’s a real pro,” Tapping declares.

The more-senior players have this personal time after being granted what fitness boss Sean Murphy describes as a “sleep in”. Their first official commitment is a 9.30am team meeting.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Before then the meeting room is filled by the Jack Jones Academy.

Led by Head of Development Cam Roberts, Player Development and Welfare Manager Chris Byrne with a beefed-up team including Brent Stanton, Michael Hurley and Travis Cloke, the academy has been put in place to get the club’s first-to-three-year players up to speed more quickly.

It’s particularly crucial when 18 of the 45 players on the Bombers’ list are in their first three years of footy – with many of them expected to play a significant chunk at AFL level in 2023.

There’s Archie Perkins and Nic Martin, as well as Ben Hobbs, Nik Cox and Massimo D’Ambrosio who’ve already been exposed to the level. But for many others this will be their first interstate trip, ensuring there’s much to think about.

Firstly, Stanton stresses the importance of taking a personal pillow, detailing a study that showed your own smell can help you sleep better.

“You might sit there and go ‘yeah that doesn’t really matter’, but just bringing it to their attention… we’ll keep trying to get that one percent out of them,” he said.

“The difference between having a good sleep and a bad sleep, it’s everything,” Roberts adds.

There’s also discussion about nutrition and hydration on travel days, as well as how the players fill their time on matchday.

While the beach is just across the road, bodysurfing is out. So too any activity that would likely keep them on their feet for an extended period. Would they prepare for a game that way at home?

“They have no idea what’s coming,” Stanton warns.

“There are so many traps, so if we can hopefully help them and alert the players, that’s going to give them the best opportunity to perform.”

Roberts points to an interstate trip in round 15 last year when they tackled West Coast in Perth as a prime example.

“At least a third of our side had never been to Perth, let alone the new Optus Stadium,” he said.

“They were amazed by the stadium and they were literally going to play on it in an hour’s time. Even that is a distraction for them, not being familiar with the surroundings.”

Perhaps the most poignant part of the session involves the injured players. These coaches know how laser-focused the players can be on the first practice game of the season – and in turn, round one.

When they’re eating and sleeping football, not playing can be tough to take. Father-son draftee Jayden Davey, on the mend from an ACL injury, admits it has been a bit of a “rollercoaster”.

Elijah Tsatas, who would have been a round one chance before suffering a meniscus tear that’s ensured he’s still in a knee brace, admits it’s just “weird”.

It’s a feeling Michael Hurley understands all too well.

“It’s probably at the forefront of my mind because in my last couple of years… it became really difficult to sit through these meetings with the reality of not playing,” the club favourite says.

Once upon a time, almost the entire football department would travel interstate, leaving the injured players largely to their own devices back in Melbourne.

Now, a much bigger support network – including Hurley himself - will remain at the NEC Hangar during those away games.

GO TIME

By now the senior players are largely ready for the second main skills session of the week, after an hour of feverish strapping and massage.

At any one time, between eight and 10 players are receiving treatment in the medical room, opposite the gym and down the hall from that main meeting area.

At 10.30am they file into the theatrette, filling the room alongside the coaches and staff, including senior football and admin staff.

To start, the floor belongs to fitness boss Sean Murphy, whose powerpoint presentation projects the words every player looks forward to.

‘In Season’ it shouts.

While there’s still plenty of work to do in the build-up to round one, from here the players will eat, sleep and train largely as they would during the season proper.

During pre-season their loads are spread more evenly across the week, now their program is built more around ‘matchday’ and then recovery.

At the players’ request training starts at the same time - 10.30am – for both main sessions of the week. For a Saturday game, that means the big days are Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Amid the training, recovery and line meetings there’s also a yoga session which has proved popular in recent years; a change of pace in the days that otherwise run like clockwork.

Scott then takes the floor to confirm what had been expected since Heppell stepped down as captain – Zach Merrett will be the club’s next skipper.

(We’ll explore that further in Part II)

Assistant coaches Daniel Giansiracusa and Blake Caracella run through the day’s session – with drills on the transition from defence to attack, with a particular focus on when they’re forced into a slow play.

How can they turn a likely kick down the line into a dangerous inside 50?

With the meeting already lengthy, the tactical talk is short and sharp. Scott is just as punchy when he leaves the group with his final thoughts. He has a single ‘edit’ from match simulation a few days earlier - a piece of vision captured by the four elevated cameras around the training ground at the Hangar, complemented by drone footage.

Scott runs through the vision three or four times, emphasising something different with every click of his remote.

By now there’s enough circles and lines to put the old Channel Nine cricket telestrator to shame.

Scott chose the vision because there are positives in both ball movement and positioning for the attacking team, and areas of improvement for how they should be setting up to avoid being burnt on the rebound, something which cost the Bombers dearly last season.

But above all else, it’s kept simple.

“Less is more on that front,” Scott said.

“It’s not about me feeling comfortable that I’ve ticked all the boxes and covered everything, it’s ultimately important what they retain.”

It’s that ability to highlight only the most important piece of information that has really resonated with the playing group.

“He doesn’t overtalk,” says Mason Redman. “But, with his 10 or 11 years of coaching experience, when he does, you listen.”

Before the players head out to training Jake Stringer grabs recruit Sam Weideman for a final discussion over his positioning in front of the projected training vision.

“[Jake’s] footy IQ is off the charts,” one staff member nods.

FITNESS FOCUS… AND PRE-GAME HICCUP

The remainder of the group is huddled around Murphy’s training notes, plastered on the wall of the indoor facility, which include certain markers every player is required to hit during the session.

Heppell, for instance, has already recorded enough high intensity efforts to cover an entire week of training – a number much higher than most of his team-mates.

It’s a product of his terrific work-rate and older body. Without the leg speed of his younger team-mates, the former skipper often needs to push that little bit harder.

“Dyson is an amazing athlete in terms of the ground he covers in drills,” Murphy says.

But he also has a focus on acceleration built into his program.

“It means, at times we need to manage him from a load perspective and take him out of some drills.”

On Stringer, the Dons’ fitness boss is adamant the reality of the work he’s put in doesn’t match much of the external chatter about him.

“He’s never going to be an aerobic beast; his strong attributes are his speed and power," he said.

As far as Murphy is concerned, Stringer has done more than enough over the pre-season, even if it hasn’t all be with the main group.

Still there’s no hiding from a level of disappointment when Stringer leaves the track early nearing the end of the session.

“It just got really sore,” he fumes as he jogs into The Hangar and onto the treatment table for some immediate testing of his hamstring.

Unfortunately, scans would later show a low-grade strain, ruling him out of the clash with the Suns.

“It happened while kicking, not moving at speed, so we’ll look at that.”

But this is being viewed as a minor setback in the scheme of Stringer’s season.

“He has some clear markers he needs to hit in his pre-training testing which has been a focus of ours and Brad’s. With Jake it’s all about a premium attention to detail.”

There’s a confidence this will pay off in the long run.

NOT DONE YET

While their official line meetings with their respective assistants aren’t until the next day, forwards coach Dale Tapping has still found time to sit down with Jye Menzie, a small forward taken in the mid-season draft last year.

The 20-year-old has impressed all summer with his work-rate and willingness to learn.

Tapping shows him a pair of contests from the Bombers most recent match simulation a few days earlier.

Being dangerous is one thing but creating space and not allowing his opponent to fly across and disrupt the run of his full-forward, Wright, is another.

The conversation feeds into Tapping’s mantra of “winning the week” - making small gains with every session that should add up over time.

“We’re not a push-button team like the Cats, we’ve got a long way to go because our habits are not consistent enough yet.”

Another team meeting awaits, this time around the logistics of the journey to the Gold Coast. With a big group upwards of 35 players heading North, some will need to share rooms.

Seniority has certain perks, so Heppell is pretty confident of avoiding any sort of room sharing.

Who would he most like to avoid?

“’Rids’ or Redman,” he quips. “Bloody annoying.”

“I’m happy to throw ‘Redders’ under the bus as well,” Wright concurs.

“He’ll always want to be doing things with you, and I prefer doing my own thing.”

No sooner is that settled and the noise coming from the gym thumps through the entire building. It can mean only one thing: Jayden Laverde has taken over as resident DJ for the afternoon weights session.

It could be a nightclub such is the volume; the genre in Laverde’s words “House tunes”.

“There is a bit of pressure [in picking a playlist], but you can’t please everyone,” he admits.

“There are some days that call for some lighter tunes, but on days like today you need a bit more upbeat and a bit more electricity. I do try and pick music to try and get the vibe up in the place.”

Andrew Phillips might play some rock alternatives, while country music if more to Michael Hurley’s taste.

“He’s a different soul,” Laverde says.

Apparently, he simply doesn’t care what his now-former team-mates think.

“Mason Redman will also often try to take over, but he’s a bit hit and miss. A few songs will come up and the boys will be like ‘nah, come on mate’.”

THE PHILOSOPHY

Back in the relative calm of the football department, Brad Scott’s office is a revolving door of players seeking reassurance and feedback.

While the coaches have their own meeting scheduled for 3pm, Scott says if they need to shift it back they will.

“We’ll push it back to four, and, if there are still players everywhere, we’ll push it back to five. It means sometimes our workday starts at five. When the players are here, the coaches are available for them,” Scott stresses.

It’s a coaching style that’s been shaped across his time firstly as an assistant at Collingwood, then as senior coach at North Melbourne, before his brief stint as General Manager of Football at the AFL.

“When you first start as a coach you try to be all things to all people, and you think ‘I’ve very much got to be in control of everything’.”

But now his approach is more refined.

“One of our focuses here has been role clarity and clarity of what we’re trying to do. I say to the players all the time, there are lots of different ways to play the game and one’s not necessarily right and the other is not necessarily wrong.

“I saw Mick Malthouse, who was a big influence on me, and Leigh Matthews, who was a really big influence on me over a long period of time. They’re very different coaches and they approach it very differently in a lot of ways. The things we think are really valuable, other teams might have a completely different way of doing things.

“It’s when you get caught in between you get in a bit of trouble.”

Click here to read part two of Inside Essendon's new era.