Fremantle’s Mason Cox has thrown his support behind an era of coaching honesty in the AFL as the pressure starts to mount on one winless club in particular.
The 11-year veteran argued that the modern game should welcome more openness from senior coaches, claiming that public criticism could be a necessary tool to force accountability within underperforming playing groups.
Essendon coach Brad Scott publicly grilled his players following the side’s Round 2 defeat to Port Adelaide, the team now 0-2 after back-to-back 10-goal losses, using descriptors in his post-match press conference such as “demoralised” and “not hard-nosed enough” to deliver a brutal honesty, questioning his squad’s desire.
“I get it. And I agree with it, and I think we should be able to talk a lot more openly about these things,” Cox said on the Red Time podcast. “I actually respect it, because it does take a little bit of criticism whenever you say that, and it also puts the players in a position of, ‘hey, we need to get our stuff together… otherwise all of our necks are gonna be on the line’.”
The reality behind Scott’s frustration is quite damning. Entering Round 3, the once-mighty Essendon Football Club has not sung the song since May of last year.
The 10-month drought has invited scathing assessments from the club’s legends. James Hird told 3AW he too understands Brad Scott’s frustrations, saying “if you look at what they stand for as a team, you’re really searching for it”. Matthew Lloyd also weighed in on afl.com.au: “They’ve played a couple of games and they’ve played with no passion. It’s a hard watch because it’s not AFL level, it’s not AFL standard, and the coach pretty much conceded we’ve got players that aren’t working hard enough.”
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For Cox, hearing a coach’s honesty, like Scott’s, isn’t about shifting blame, but about reflecting the reality that supporters and club icons are already seeing.
“He’s not gonna shy away from the fact that Essendon’s not performing to where they wanna be and where I think supporters want them to be,” he said. “I think it’s good to be able to say that ‘we’re not up to scratch,’ and that’s a brutal honesty which I appreciate.
“Sometimes you have to have those hard truths. It puts the pressure back on the playing group to turn this thing around and start getting wins on the board.”
For the Bombers, the pressure is immense heading into a Round 3 clash with an also-under-fire North Melbourne side looking to respond to its defeat at the hands of West Coast last week.
