Interim coach Dean Solomon has rejected suggestions he was informing the board about Brad Scott’s performance as head coach this year while working with him as an assistant.
Amid reports that his relationship with Scott was broken, Solomon, who is friends with a former teammate club president Andrew WelshHe said he had no conversation with the president about Scott’s performance as a coach this season. He said his working relationship with Scott, who was fired Monday after The Bombers had won just one game in 2026it was powerful.
“Brad and I got along really well. I respect Brad. I respected Brad as a player and as a coach and what he’s been able to achieve,” Solomon said.
“There was no part of me that felt any pain between us.”
Asked directly on Thursday if he had discussed Scott’s performance as coach this year with Wales, Solomon, who returned to Essendon to sit on the board before being appointed assistant coach in December, insisted: “Not at all, not at all.”
He said the only time he had a discussion about Scott and the direction of the club with anyone at the board level was last year when he was on the board.
Solomon said his involvement with the board members regarding the coach and the club’s strategy ended when he left the board and became an assistant coach.
“Once I agreed to be an assistant coach all the talk about the big picture was shut down,” Solomon said. “I told the board and the board told me that.”
Scott told Seven Agenda Setters that he had a good relationship with Solomon.
With momentum increasing for James Hird to return as head coach after that announced his intention On Tuesday night, Solomon, who played in the 2000 premiership alongside Hird, said he wouldn’t think so candidate for the position of head coach while the interim coach.
He was pleased Hird felt he was in the position feel ready to teach again but he said the board would comment on that, and Sulemani would not be involved in those discussions.
“I like the fact that (Hird) feels he’s in a position to want to coach again. On a personal level I’m glad he is,” Solomon said. “Whether that happens or not, I’m not part of that conversation.”
And the number of candidates to teach concerned about putting their hands on the job in view of Hird’s interestsSolomon stressed that the new coach did not need to be a Bombers insider.
“You don’t have to be an Essendon person to coach at Essendon,” Solomon said, adding there have been many examples of former players returning to their club or new coaches who didn’t play at the club becoming successful as AFL head coaches.
The 46-year-old Solomon, who played 158 games for Essendon and 51 games for Fremantle before becoming an assistant at Gold Coast, was asked if he would be a candidate to replace Scott.
“I’m not going to focus on that. I’m not going to focus on that when I’m doing this job. I think it’s a bad thing for me to entertain (that),” Solomon said.
“I have to bow down … my heart goes out to the players and the staff. If I’m thinking about something else, that could be about me, it’s a bad thing.”
More to come
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