Nick Riewoldt has had his right of reply after he was labelled “bordering on lazy” by Essendon coach Brad Scott.
Riewoldt and his The Agenda Setters co-host Kane Cornes took the Bombers to task on Monday over their coaching of under-fire defender Ben McKay, who struggled against Collingwood on Anzac Day.
Riewoldt and Cornes showed damning footage of McKay from the game and suggested the 28-year-old, who is contracted at Essendon until 2029 on a lucrative deal, needs a “circuit-breaker”, which might mean a spell in the VFL.
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Scott hit back when asked about the assessment on Wednesday.
“(McKay is an) easy target, and we’re an easy target when you put out a performance like that,” Scott told reporters.
“Every player in the competition has, quote unquote, confidence issues at various stages of their career.
“Is he just feeling great about himself? Probably not. But does that matter? Should that impact your performance? No.
“It’s an easy target. The ability to individualise outside external I reckon is easy, bordering on lazy.”
On Wednesday night’s edition of The Agenda Setters, Riewoldt took umbrage at the comments, questioning again why McKay continues to hold his spot in the team despite consistently playing below his best.
“For the two and a half weeks before that, I was super supportive of the Bombers, and (we) went out of our way to back over some of the great stuff that they’d done in turning their season around,” Riewoldt said.
“Is it easy to pinpoint Ben McKay out of the weekend? Well, yeah, it is, because the vision jumps off the screen. You don’t have to look too hard for it.
“Is it lazy though? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being lazy because I do the work.
“But is he saying it’s lazy because it’s obvious? Well, in the case that it is obvious, well then, it’s obvious to everyone, and you ask the question: why is he (McKay) still getting a game when he continues to deliver the same sort of action.
“I thought the lazy comment was a strange one.”
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Asked if he thought Scott’s retort was a deflection from the suggestion that McKay should have a stint in the reserves, Riewoldt said: “Potentially; we offered the solution on Monday night, Kane and I.
“That might be the solution: get him in the twos, build his confidence back up, and then when he comes in, find a circuit-breaker for him; put him in the ruck, or something like that — it’s worked for Peter Wright.
“But it’s clear to me that he needs a circuit-breaker.”
McKay looked bereft of confidence against Collingwood on Saturday and has been under pressure to retain his spot in the side for several weeks now.
Cornes said Scott needs to drop McKay for his own good.
“Something has to be done from a coaching point of view because we can’t continually have this out there, it’s not doing him any favours,” he said on Monday night.
Riewoldt added: “We actually debated whether to show the vision or not because it is pretty damning, some of this stuff.
“Not choosing to run through a player, running around, and then asking the umpire for a block.
“It was actually hard to watch at times on the weekend, some of these efforts.
“And I think it’s gotten to the point now where there needs to be some level of intervention from the coach.
“I think Brad Scott has to step in here — there has to be a circuit-breaker. Send him back to the VFL.
“If you want to get a kick at the moment and you’re playing on Ben McKay, you just go get a kick, because there is no competitiveness within this man at the moment.”
