Brad Scott tonight will become the 35^th coach in AFL history to coach 250 games, joining the 2.28% of the League’s 381 coaches all-time to reach this milestone as Essendon take on Collingwood at the MCG.

In his second year in charge at the Bombers after 211 games at North Melbourne from 2010-19, Scott will be the 23^rdyoungest to coach 250 games at 48.

He’ll be three years and nine days older than twin brother Chris, who reached the same milestone with Geelong in Round 15 2021. And he’ll be hoping for a better result.

Chris Scott coached his 250^th in Brisbane, where he played his 215 AFL games, but copped a 44-point loss to his old side which at the time was the ninth-biggest of his coaching career.

As he does often, Brad will be opposed in the coaching box in his 250^th game to a former premiership teammate and close friend.

This week it will Craig McRae, with the one-time midfielder/tagger/half back now in the Bombers’ black and red hoping to celebrate his milestone with his first win over the former tearaway small forward, who will be in the black and white of the Magpies.

The pair have been coaching rivals three times since Scott surrendered his three-year role as head of football at the AFL in September 2022 to return to coaching. McRae won their first two meetings before a draw when they met in the Round 8 Anzac Day spectacular this year.

It will be a lop-sided “re-union” of sorts for Scott, who will have not just McRae in the Collingwood coaching box on Friday night but also another long-time Brisbane teammate and ex-Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch, now McRae’s senior off-sider at the Pies.

The Scott twins, McRae, Leppitsch and Carlton coach Michael Voss comprise a senior AFL coaching quintet that was bred at Brisbane by coaching master Leigh Matthews.

Between them they won 11 premierships with the Lions under Matthews in 2001-02-03 and played 16 grand finals before McRae’s retirement after the 2004 grand final loss to Port Adelaide.

Together they have now coached 876 AFL games – Chris Scott (324), Brad Scott (249), Voss (171), McRae (66) and Leppitsch (66). Brad Scott has a 5-3 record against Voss and was 4-1 against Leppitsch but is 5-11 against his twin.

While Voss, the Lions’ triple premiership captain, was always considered the most likely senior coach in waiting inside the Brisbane camp during the group’s playing days, Brad Scott was generally considered to be the next most likely.

Remarkably, the Scott brothers are on track next year to reach a combined 1000 AFL games as players and coaches after Chris played 215 games with Brisbane and Brad 168 with Hawthorn (22) and Brisbane (146).

This week’s coaching milestone man will be the fourth person to coach his 250^th game wearing Essendon colors after Jack Worrall in 1918, Dick Reynolds in 1952 and Kevin Sheedy in 1991.

Worrall, recognized as the first coach in the VFL/AFL when appointed to what was a new job in the game at Carlton in 1902, had coached the Blues 144 times from 1902-09 before taking charge at Essendon in 1911.

Also a former Test cricketer, Worrall was the League’s first 250-game coach in 1918, with Reynolds sixth in 1952 and Sheedy 17^th in 1991.

Reynolds, who was a playing coach for his first 13 years in charge at Essendon from 1952-60, was the game’s youngest 250-game coach at 36. Worrall was the oldest at 58.

Hoping in September to become the first Essendon coach to win a final since Sheedy in 2004, Brad Scott has coached most often against his twin brother Chris and St.Kilda/Fremantle coach Ross Lyon – 16 times.

He’s been opposed 14 times to John Longmire (Sydney) and Alastair Clarkson (Hawthorn/North Melbourne) and 13 times against Damien Hardwick (Richmond/Gold Coast).

His biggest win was a 129-point North Melbourne romp against GWS at Bellerive Oval in Hobart in just the second AFL game for the League’s 18^th team in Round 2 2012. He was also in charge in a 122-point win over Melbourne at Marvel Stadium in 2013.

Ironically, his biggest coaching loss was also against GWS - by 126 points when Essendon visited the Giants’  Sydney Showgrounds in Round 23 last year.

Historically, the biggest win by a coach in his 250^th game all-time is John Longmire’s 92-point celebration win over Adam Simpson’s West Coast at the unlikely venue of Geelong’s Kardinia Park during Covid times in 2021.

Damian Hardwick, too, celebrated his 250^th game as coach at Richmond at an unlikely location and on an unlikely date during Covid times. It was a semi-final against St.Kilda on 9 October 2020 at what is now his football home on the Gold Coast.

The biggest loss by a coach in his 250^th game is Lyon’s 100-point hammering at the hands of Don Pyke’s Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval in 2017.

But arguably the most memorable 250^th game belongs to Malcolm Blight. A playing coach at North Melbourne before stints at Geelong and Adelaide, he joined St.Kilda in 2001.

In his 15^th game at the Saints’ helm on Friday 13^th July, against Gary Ayres’ Adelaide at Marvel Stadium, Blight had to endure a 97-point hiding. It was his last game. He was sacked a couple of days later.