Footy Dept. Adrian Dodoro - Leaving EFC. #putoutyourjackets

Remove this Banner Ad

Cliff notes:
  • Stepping back from his current senior role following the 2023 AFL Draft
  • Transition plan, raised the possibility with Vozzo in April
  • Replacement is Matt Rosa, whose thread is here: Welcome to Essendon Matthew Rosa – AFL Talent & Operations Manager!
Full text from media release said:
To coincide with this announcement, the Club’s General Manager of List and Recruiting, Adrian Dodoro, has made the decision to take a step back from his current senior role following this year’s NAB AFL National Draft. He will lead the Club through the upcoming 2023 Trade and Draft period in his current position prior to transitioning to and assisting Matt Rosa moving forward.​
​
Dodoro, an Essendon Life Member, has played a significant role at the Bombers over nearly three decades and said the time was right to take a step back.​
​
“I approached Craig back in April to discuss the concept of transition and I feel that now is the right time to make this decision,” Dodoro said.​
​
"I sat on the panel to assist in the selection of Matt, and I believe he will be an outstanding acquisition to the Club for years to come. I look forward to working with Matt moving forward.​
​
“These roles are very taxing on individuals and their families and it just feels like that. After nearly three decades and with stability in key roles at the Club, now is the right time for me to take a step back in to a role which will provide me and my family with a better work life balance.​
​
“More immediately, we have an important few months coming up and I’m looking forward to playing my part to deliver a strong Trade and Draft period for the Club to ensure that the playing list is in a strong position for the future.”​
​
Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo acknowledged the significant impact Dodoro has made at the Club since joining in a full-time role in 1998.​
​
“Adrian is a highly respected Life Member of the Essendon Football Club and has made an enormous contribution to the Club and the wider AFL industry during his time in football, including assisting to navigate the Club through unprecedented and challenging periods,” Vozzo said.​
​
“Throughout his time at the Bombers, Adrian’s commitment and passion to take the Club forward in its list management and recruiting, has been unquestionable. Some of the Champions of Essendon have been identified and selected by Adrian, and we will always be grateful for the important and enduring role he has played.​
​
“On behalf of the entire Club, we would like to acknowledge Adrian’s selfless decision and we look forward to his ongoing contribution to the Club.​
​
“Adrian will work with Matt to ensure a smooth hand-over and a successful transition of responsibilities.”​
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
It will be a slow burn to recover from the mess that dodo has created. With a few exceptions, the last 5 or so years have been terrible in terms of recruiting and it will take a while to move beyond that.

But still, at least now there is some light at the end of the tunnel. There are no guarantees that Rosa will be better but one thing is certain: nothing can be worse than 20 years without winning a final.
 
Howard Moon said:
Ok Sheedy out , Dodoro out... Seems like a faction has fallen by the wayside. It all seems a little too easy
Click to expand...
The only way to cancel out interfering egos and agendas at the EFC is to cancel out the coteries.

I assume everyone’s on board with a cancel culture at Essendon?
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Here_we_come said:
It will be a slow burn to recover from the mess that dodo has created. With a few exceptions, the last 5 or so years have been terrible in terms of recruiting and it will take a while to move beyond that.

But still, at least now there is some light at the end of the tunnel. There are no guarantees that Rosa will be better but one thing is certain: nothing can be worse than 20 years without winning a final.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree - think there’s a huge chance noone currently on our list will be there the next time we win a final
 
eth-dog said:
I don't like dancing on graves.
Click to expand...

Whether knowingly or unknowingly, he's been dancing on ours.

Any sane person would've read the room 10 years ago let alone 20. There is something seriously wrong with his character. I have no respect for him and never will.

Glorious day for the EFC.
 
Blind Turn said:
I dunno mate, strobe lights and some deep acid house on a full moon…
Click to expand...
Eh, fair enough, you do you mean
Call Me Cake said:
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, he's been dancing on ours.

Any sane person would've read the room 10 years ago let alone 20. There is something seriously wrong with his character. I have no respect for him and never will.

Glorious day for the EFC.
Click to expand...
Oh God, the irony of you of all posters saying this.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

BrunoV said:
Yep. We are almost entirely committed to the current list with no real scope to change in the next 24 months.

By the way, that's the product of the last 2 times Dodoro oversaw the use of 3 sets of top 10 picks in the space of 24 months at the start of a rebuild (i.e. Parish, Francis and McGrath and then Cox, Perkins and Reid) that hasn't be a catalyst for more than the usual mediocrity.

I find it almost amusing that the people think that the departure of Sheedy and Dodoro at this point stands as some sort of meaningful cultural change. The club is still overseen by a board that will engage in a circle jerk over the list every time it meets - they're still a bunch of useless sycophants.
Click to expand...
Mate you are just a ray of sunshine aren't ya? You find it amusing that supporters would applaud positive moves by the club because they aren't silver bullets that guarantee success?

I'm assuming this 'board of useless sycophants' you speak of are also the people that successfully orchestrated a coup and ousted the previous administration? Pretty interesting behaviour for 'sycophants'
 
Corleone said:
Can someone please post the article?
Click to expand...

Breaking up has been hard to do for the Essendon Football Club. And for the Bombers, the most difficult relationship to sever has been their love affair with the past.
That it is a past that is close to a quarter of a century old must make matters all the more galling for Brad Scott and Zach Merrett, whose era together should have begun unencumbered two seasons ago but whose leadership at times has been held hostage to an old guard who cannot let go.
Essendon’s outgoing list boss Adrian Dodoro was discovered by Kevin Sheedy 33 years ago.

Essendon’s outgoing list boss Adrian Dodoro was discovered by Kevin Sheedy 33 years ago.CREDIT: STEPHEN KIPRILLIS
As Kevin Sheedy has agreed to a long-overdue board departure and veteran list manager Adrian Dodoro has taken leave to deal with personal matters, it is worth harking back to Scott’s appointment two seasons ago and the assurances he was given by the new president David Barham and his team.
Dodoro was not expected to return to the Bombers having come close to accepting that his time was up, said two club sources who would not comment publicly as the situation remained sensitive in a legal and an emotional sense.

Breaking up with Dodoro – as with Sheedy – has been far more problematic for Essendon’s bosses than it should have been. It is stating the obvious to say that no individual is bigger than the club but too often those individuals confuse the equation.
It had been a messy start for Barham, who faced one of the toughest jobs in sport as he set about rebuilding Essendon. It began with a board split and coup, the brutally clumsy handling of Ben Rutten’s removal and then the embarrassment over the decision to install Andrew Thorburn as Essendon’s new boss, an appointment that lasted one day.

RELATED ARTICLE​

Legendary Bombers figure Kevin Sheedy.

AFL 2024​

Essendon icon and AFL Legend Kevin Sheedy steps down from the club’s board​

But with the Scott appointment came a series of undertakings that proved less than rock solid from the Bombers’ hierarchy regarding the club’s soft-cap status and also a guarantee that the club would move to overhaul its list management, which had fared poorly in a recent review.
Instead, Scott began his first season as senior coach with a fractured football department given the decision to retain the controversial list boss Dodoro alongside the football boss he had a tense relationship with, Josh Mahoney. Scott was reportedly surprised at the influential presence of Dodoro and premiership star Mark Harvey – who is now working in Essendon’s commercial team – in the day-to-day running of football.


Changes were slowly made when Craig Vozzo became the new club chief. For a start, Dodoro remained and reported to the new boss and not Mahoney, who departed after one season with Scott. But my firm view is that divisions remain at Essendon and that two seasons in, members of the old guard are not fully behind the new coach.
At the time of writing, the Bombers remain a live chance to reach September and their future looks full of hope. Their recent string of close and disappointing losses cannot be squared at Dodoro, but it is fair to say he remains more than simply a symbol of the club’s refusal to break the shackles of the past and move forward. He defends his role, but Essendon have not won a final for 20 years and Dodoro must share some responsibility, including for the list and some recent missteps.

RELATED ARTICLE​

Veteran Essendon recruiter Adrian Dodoro is on personal leave.

AFL 2024​

Bombers recruiter Adrian Dodoro takes personal leave​

The compromised decision to employ a new list boss, Matt Rosa, but retain Dodoro in a lesser role, has had its moments and now reached its used-by date. The club appears to be coming to the realisation it must move forward with Rosa solely in charge, but Dodoro’s position remained a sensitive issue this week as the Bombers headed towards their final two 2024 home-and-away rounds and their next crucial trade period.
Despite Hall of Fame Legend Sheedy’s unparalleled contribution to Essendon and Australian football, his presence on the Bombers’ board while also working in the dual role as paid ambassador remained an insult to Scott and a brand issue for the club. Respecting the past while moving forward unshackled remains a fine line but Barham could have been tougher with Sheedy, who seemed happy to remain on the board until this week.

For a club director of Sheedy’s reputation to break ranks immediately after a senior coaching appointment and declare he voted for another candidate and had not backed the decision is unprecedented in AFL terms. Former Richmond director and premiership coach Tony Jewell publicly criticised Danny Frawley’s coaching, later apologised, and later again was voted off the board, but for Sheedy to remain for two full seasons after his comments speaks again to Essendon’s clinging to their history.
Few at Essendon revere Sheedy more than president Barham, who also owed Sheedy after he backed him in the board split that ultimately ended Rutten’s time at the club. But in retaining the four-time premiership coach, the club symbolically put the past ahead of its future.

As Barham did in giving James Hird some genuine hope he had a chance of returning to the club as senior coach. Hird has every right to try to return to AFL coaching if that remains his wish. But it defies belief that he was a genuine candidate for the Bombers’ job so soon after the most catastrophic period in the club’s history, which occurred under his watch.
Still, by placing Hird in a genuine process once and for all, the club seems finally to have dealt with the Hird messiah complex.

Significantly Dyson Heppell, the last of the drug-scandal victims to remain at Essendon, announced his retirement this week. A respected, worthy and popular adornment to the Bombers for so many years he was described on the club’s website by Barham as an “Essendon person through and through”.
Barham seems up to the task in forging ahead and breaking the ties of Essendon’s often selfish and deluded recent past. It is up to him along with Vozzo, Scott and Merrett to redefine the meaning of the so-called “Essendon person”.
Click to expand...
 
P Money said:
Mate you are just a ray of sunshine aren't ya? You find it amusing that supporters would applaud positive moves by the club because they aren't silver bullets that guarantee success?

I'm assuming this 'board of useless sycophants' you speak of are also the people that successfully orchestrated a coup and ousted the previous administration? Pretty interesting behaviour for 'sycophants'
Click to expand...


That was Barham and Sheedy.

What you're left with is:

1. the people that blindly followed Sheedy from support for Brasher / Rutten;

2. turned against Barham and Sheedy at the last minute when they realised they had been manipulated into appointing Hird.

Essendon has validated everything that has happened on the football field to this point because it is committed to the list of players it has produced.

Edit: you are right, in one sense. As a class they're not just sycophants. That instinct can be overcome by their desire for self-preservation and cowardice.
 
BrunoV said:
That was Barham and Sheedy.

What you're left with is:

1. the people that blindly followed Sheedy from support for Brasher / Rutten;

2. turned against Barham and Sheedy at the last minute when they realised they had been manipulated into appointing Hird.

Essendon has validated everything that has happened on the football field to this point because it is committed to the list of players it has produced.

Edit: you are right, in one sense. As a class they're not just sycophants. That instinct can be overcome by their desire for self-preservation and cowardice.
Click to expand...
Tell us what to do Bruno! Tell us o wise one!
 
BrunoV said:
That was Barham and Sheedy.

What you're left with is:

1. the people that blindly followed Sheedy from support for Brasher / Rutten;

2. turned against Barham and Sheedy at the last minute when they realised they had been manipulated into appointing Hird.

Essendon has validated everything that has happened on the football field to this point because it is committed to the list of players it has produced.

Edit: you are right, in one sense. As a class they're not just sycophants. That instinct can be overcome by their desire for self-preservation and cowardice.
Click to expand...
furthering onto this, some of the resigning I have felt as a Dodoro not wanting to be seen as a failure sort of thing

Jye Menzies clearly did not deserve a contract. Did Parish deserve 6? McGrath? Probably not yet here we are
 
boncer34 said:
It's the last stone we haven't turned over
Click to expand...
Nah, dependence on and therefore answering to the coteries.

Would love a complete remodel of the club's financial "model", meaning coterie influence is more similar to that at other clubs.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Footy Dept. Adrian Dodoro - Leaving EFC. #putoutyourjackets

Similar threads

eth-dog
Retired #45: Anthony Munkara - Leaving the club, returning to Tiwi - 7/9
13 14 15 16 17
Replies
405
Views
43K
fishardansin
fishardansin

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top