Essendon coach Brad Scott has been sacked after a nightmare run for the Bombers under his leadership.

After 80 games, the club has torn up Scott’s contract, despite having 18 months remaining.

The move will surprise few. Essendon has won just one game out of 11 in 2026. That poor run follows the Bombers losing 13 games across the 2025 AFL season.

Online, Tom Morris reported that the Essendon board had made the decision to tear up the contract with Scott early if he wasn’t going to be coach in 2027.

The club confirmed the sacking online after news broke, calling the fired coach a “stoic leader”.

“The Essendon Football Club can confirm that it has made the decision to part company with Senior Coach Brad Scott, effective immediately,” a club statement said.

“The Club thanked Scott and his family for his dedication to the role and for the club-first mentality he showed throughout his time at Essendon.”

Essendon’s president, Andrew Welsh, added: “Brad is a resilient, stoic leader who gave everything to this football club and to the people in it. He came to Essendon with a clear set of values and he never compromised them, through good times and difficult ones.”

“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.”

However, the glowing and thankful statement turned, with Welsh confirming the club was no longer comfortable with Scott as coach.

“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,” he said.

“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.

“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. 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,” Welsh said.

The club said it was determined to return success back to Essendon, something it accepts will take time.

“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,” Welsh said in his statement.

“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.”

Essendon confirmed it will have more information over the process of selecting a new coach in the coming days.

Scott departs after 80 games at the helm, for 29 wins, 50 losses and one draw in total.

Former North Melbourne mentor Scott signed a one-year extension through to the end of the 2027 season in March 2025.

That was supposed to deliver stability to the battling Bombers.

But Essendon are now on the hunt for their third senior coach in five seasons.