The Essendon Football Club today announced it has made the decision to part ways with Senior Coach Brad Scott, effective immediately.

This afternoon, President Andrew Welsh and CEO Tim Roberts addressed the media, outlining the reasoning behind the decision and the Club’s direction moving forward.

Welsh acknowledged Scott’s contribution to the Club during his tenure and emphasised the difficulty of the decision, while providing insight into the factors that led the Board to act.

“Brad’s a resilient, stoic person who gave everything to this football Club, and to the people within it. He came here with a clear strategy, a clear set of values, and never compromised them,” Welsh said.

“The toll that this role places on a coach and their family is real. And I want to thank, Brad, and his entire family, for the sacrifices that they have made for this Club, and we wish them nothing but the best.

“This is an industry that demands high performance, continual improvement, and a relentless drive to get better every day. We are not comfortable with where we currently sit.

“As a Board, we met in recent days, assessed our position honestly, and made a decision. The nature of our losses, the way we are playing, and the key performance indicators we set out at the start of the season are not trending in the right direction.

“When we looked at the overall picture, we agreed that a fresh voice was needed, to take this Club forward, and that Brad would not be our Senior Coach in 2027. Once that decision was made, we moved to let Brad know and work through the next steps with him.

“We are building the next successful era at the Essendon Football Club with a view of playing finals, winning finals, and competing for premierships. There is a lot to be gained from the second half of the season, and we won't waste the opportunity to develop and improve on our performances.”

The Club confirmed Assistant Coach Dean Solomon will take over as Interim Senior Coach during this transition period.

Roberts reinforced that the decision was performance-driven, while stressing the Club’s broader strategy remains unchanged.

“Our strategy hasn't changed. What's changed is that the Board met to review progress over the weekend, and yesterday, and made the decision that Brad was not going be our coach moving forward,” Roberts said.

“Once that decision was made we came back to, “When was the right time to deal with that?”, and with the respect of the character and integrity of Brad, we brought that decision forward."