Brad Scott has been sacked as Essendon coach.

With 18 months left to run on his contract, the Bombers have cut ties with Scott after 80 games at the helm.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Brad Scott sacked as Essendon coach

Essendon have won just one of their first 11 games this year, having also lost the last 13 games of 2025, making it one win from their past 24.

It was only last week that key leaders of the club had said their were all aligned on the their strategy. Six weeks ago, Bombers powerbrokers said they planned for Scott to be their next premiership coach.

But Bombers president Andrew Welsh said there still needed to be evidence of improvement.

“While long-term decisions have been clear and provide great hope for our future, we still need to show progress week to week, and we haven’t seen that this year,” Welsh said in a statement on the club’s website.

“These are genuinely difficult decisions, and we do not take them lightly but the cumulative nature of our losses and the key performance indicators set by the club at the start of the season are not trending in the right direction.”

Scott was appointed ahead of the 2023 season and won 11 games in each of his first two years.

After Round 17 in 2024, the Bombers sat fourth on the ladder with 10 wins and a draw.

Since that moment, they have won just eight from their next 42 games under Scott’s watch.

Essendon’s loss last Friday night to Richmond, who were sitting last on the ladder and only barely had enough fit players to field a team, has proven the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Assistant coach and Essendon premiership player Dean Solomon is likely — for the second time in his career — to take over as interim coach for the remainder of the year.

Solomon coached Gold Coast for three games in 2017 after Rodney Eade was sacked.

Scott signed a two-year extension in March last year, tying him to the club until the end of 2027.

The Bombers will now have to organise a payout for Scott, having also done so for Ben Rutten in 2022 and twice for James Hird.

Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley looms as a potential target, but Hird’s name won’t go away either.

“There is a very, very strong push from a lot of people out there to get James back at Essendon, coaching,” Essendon great Tim Watson told SEN on Tuesday morning.

Garry Lyon added: “It is a genuine groundswell (for Hird), you can’t deny the groundswell.”

Hird coached the Bombers through their infamous drugs saga between 2011 and 2013.

He was suspended for a year in 2014 before returning for one more season in 2015.

Geelong assistants James Kelly and James Rahilly, Fremantle’s Jaymie Graham, Collingwood’s Hayden Skipworth, Hawthorn’s Daniel Giansiracusa and the Western Bulldogs’ Brendon Lade are among the untried candidates.

Premiership coaches John Longmire and Adam Simpson are also available, while Nathan Buckley has said publicly he is interested in a return to senior coaching, but looks more likely to be part of Tasmania’s process to find its inaugural coach.

Welsh thanked Scott for his time at the club.

“We appreciate the sacrifices he made for our club and thank him for his commitment and professionalism. Brad leaves a legacy with the decisions he made in building our list which were always club-first,” Welsh said.

“Ultimately, whilst we know we are a young team, we are not comfortable with our current position which led us to meet as a board to assess and make a decision on the future of the senior coach position.

“When looking at the overall progress of our football team this season, it was agreed that we needed a fresh voice to take the club forward for the 2027 AFL season. Once that decision was made, it would have been unfair to have Brad continue as coach any longer and that is why we have brought this decision forward to today.

“In recent years we have transitioned our playing list, overhauled our high-performance department and enhanced our list and recruiting division and today we made the difficult decision to change our senior coaching structure.

“We have been extremely clear on the strategy and direction of our football club. We are building the next successful era for Essendon, with a view to 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 our performances.

“We know recent times have been hard for Essendon people, and we feel that deeply. We are confident the best days for this football club are ahead of us and we are excited about the future.”