Essendon young gun Nate Caddy says he is sick of “mediocrity” and won’t accept honourable losses as the Bombers face a crucial six-week stretch of the season before their bye.
The Brisbane Lions ran riot against the Bombers on Saturday, running up a huge score to claim a 64-point win. The Dons showed decent signs in the first half but were made to look second rate by the reigning premiers in the second half.
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Caddy has been one of the few bright spots for Essendon and the athletic forward impressed with three goals and five behinds against Brisbane.
But with 11 wins from 34 career games, Caddy has had enough of losing.
Speaking to 3AW post-game, the key forward was asked if he took a “glass half full” view of his side’s performance given their young players showed promise at times.
“Not really. I don’t really want to take mediocrity, to be honest,” Caddy said.
“It’s really tough to lose and lose by that much two weeks in a row.
“It’s been a lot of my career at the moment. It’s going to take little things.
“To say that’s what we want for 20 per cent of the game maybe, that’s not going to win games.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re a consistent 10 out of 10 side.
“Definitely won’t be saying we’ve had a mid game because we haven’t, we’ve lost by 80. So it’s pretty tough.”
The 20-year-old is contracted until the end of 2028 but there are already rumblings he could seek a move elsewhere if Essendon’s struggles continue.
“You heard Nate Caddy on the weekend, Tim Lane (on 3AW) asked him ‘are you glass-half-full after the loss to the reigning premier?’ He said ‘no, I’m sick of losing’,” Jay Clark said on First Crack on Kayo Sports.
“He’s the most important signature at Essendon, and Collingwood and Tasmania have got their claws into him. He’s a $1.5-million man, and so important. He says ‘this is mediocre, I’m sick of losing’.”
The Magpies are desperate to land a gun key forward — they’ve been linked to Gold Coast’s Ben King, who has been offered a two-year extension by the Suns, while Hawthorn’s Mitch Lewis is another out-of-contract forward who is set to attract interest from rival clubs.
Essendon have not won a finals game since 2004 and with that drought set to continue, pressure is mounting on coach Brad Scott to keep his job despite being contracted until the end of 2027.
The Bombers are second last on the ladder with their sole victory so far this season coming over the Demons at Gather Round.
“It brings me back to a comment from the president, Andrew Welsh, who said three weeks ago at Gather Round that he expects Brad Scott to be the next premiership coach, and everyone said ‘oh, that’s a job for life’,” Clark said on First Crack.
Essendon president Andrew Welsh said at Gather Round “we very much expect Brad to be our next premiership coach” but “we expect improvement” and “aren’t going to accept things stagnating from a development perspective.”
“The second half of that sentence is ‘we aren’t going to accept things stagnating from a development perspective’,” Clark said.
“That is the most important asterisk in football, because it puts Brad Scott on the hook. If things flatline or go backwards, as they have over the past week, then he’s fighting for his job.
“And the president is really clear on that … their next six games are super important.”
Essendon’s next games are against GWS in Sydney, Fremantle and Richmond at the MCG, West Coast in Perth, then Carlton and Melbourne at the MCG over those next six weeks.
“We need to see growth — and that’s the defensive stuff, the team game style,” Clark said.
“And we also need to see the development — and that’s the individual growth in Farrow, Robey, Sharp, etc. They are the three key factors I think Welsh will make the really big call on.
“They are the three key factors I think Welsh will make the really big call on.”
The Bombers have been criticised for their leaky defence and former Kangaroos David King doesn’t have faith the Dons can become a more stingy team.
“I did an article for the Herald Sun a month ago (about) ‘Don’t buy a cat and expect it to bark.’ — (Scott) doesn’t coach defence,” King said.
“They can tell me they do, and they can tell me ‘we value it’, but the more we see, year on year … this has been the case with Brad Scott-coached teams for a decade.
“I’m at a loss as to endorse those statements, because you can’t. We just go on evidence, and the evidence isn’t there.
“We probably have seen them in patches do it for four quarters here or six quarters (there) — but not consistently over a six-week block.”
