Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham

[Lore]

Spoiler: Timeline of events

• 15/8: President, Paul Brasher resigns, replaced by Dave Barham who foreshadows external review
  • Votes for Brasher: Peter Allen, Simon Madden, Sean Wellman
    Sean Wellman

    Age

    50

    Ht

    193cm

    Wt

    90kg

    Pos.

    Def

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    14.1

    4star

    K

    9.7

    4star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    4.5

    4star

    T

    1.0

    3star

    No current season stats available

    D

    8.0

    2star

    K

    4.4

    2star

    HB

    3.6

    3star

    M

    2.6

    3star

    T

    0.8

    3star

  • Votes for Barham: Andrew Muir, Dorothy Hisgrove, Melissa Green, Kate O’Sullivan, Kevin Sheedy
• 21/8: Senior Coach, Ben Rutten
  Ben Rutten

  Age

  41

  Ht

  190cm

  Wt

  98kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  13.4

  3star

  K

  6.3

  2star

  HB

  7.0

  4star

  M

  5.3

  5star

  T

  1.3

  3star

  No current season stats available

  D

  10.6

  3star

  K

  6.2

  3star

  HB

  4.4

  4star

  M

  3.6

  4star

  T

  1.0

  3star

  sacked
• 24/8: CEO, Xavier Campbell resigns
• 24/8: Directors to resign
  • Paul Brasher, immediately
  • Simon Madden, immediately
  • Sean Wellman, after new football director is appointed
  • Peter Allen, after AGM & finance portfolio handover in December
• 26/8: Details of coaching selection committee appointment
  • Sub-committee of 6: Josh Mahoney
    Josh Mahoney

    Age

    47

    Ht

    180cm

    Wt

    83kg

    Pos.

    Fwd

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    11.3

    3star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    3.5

    4star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.9

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    9.2

    3star

    K

    5.4

    2star

    HB

    3.8

    3star

    M

    2.2

    3star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.4

    3star

    (Chair, GM-Footy), Robert Walls, Jordan Lewis
    Jordan Lewis

    Age

    38

    Ht

    186cm

    Wt

    86kg

    Pos.

    D/M

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    23.5

    5star

    K

    12.1

    4star

    HB

    11.5

    5star

    M

    5.5

    5star

    T

    2.7

    4star

    MG

    310.5

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    15.0

    4star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    8.2

    5star

    M

    4.8

    5star

    T

    2.8

    5star

    , Simone McKinnis OAM, Andrew Thorburn and Dorothy Hisgrove (board member).
• 26/8: Details of external review process
  • Ernst & Young to coordinate with support from Andrew Thorburn, working closely with Nick Ryan (Acting CEO) & Dorothy Hisgrove (board member)
  • Focusing on four areas: (1) Board effectiveness & composition, (2) a review of leadership, operations and culture including the footy department, (3) the senior coach appointment and (4) the new CEO appointment.
• 26/9: Andrew Welsh appointed to the board of directors, replacing Simon Madden
• 29/9: Brad Scott appointed as Senior Coach
• 30/9: Kevin Sheedy claims decision to appoint Brad Scott was 6-1 against him
• 3/10: Andrew Thorburn appointed as CEO - alternative link
• 3/10: “External review to be handed to the board next week”: Andrew Thorburn, Crichton Medal Address
• 4/10: Andrew Thorburn resigns as CEO
• 11/10: External review preliminary findings
• 24/10: External review preliminary findings II
• 2/11: Dan McPherson appointed as General Manager of Performance & Cam Roberts as Head of Development
• 11/11: Dean Rioli appointed to the board of directors, replacing Paul Brasher
• 14/11: Tim Roberts & David Wills appointed to the board of directors, replacing Sean Wellman and Paul Allen respectively
• 28/11: Dorothy Hisgrove announced as first female vice-president (at the Essendon Women's Best and Fairest night)
• 1/12: Craig Vozzo appointed as CEO
• 13/12: Board director election results: Andrew Welsh and Andrew Muir elected
• 15/5: The club's First Nations Advisory Council established, to be led by Dean Rioli (chair, Indigenous board member), and including: Leanne Brooke (EFC EGM – Community & The Long Walk. Essendon FC), Dorothy Hisgrove (EFC VP and National Manager Partner KPMG), Kane Ellis (CEO of Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service), John Evans (Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement at Swinburne) and Che Cockatoo-Collins (EM, Indigenous Affairs NBN, EFC Past Player)
• 16/5: Board of Directors declare support for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, after consultation with the new First Nations Advisory Council
• 28/8: EGM - Football, Josh Mahoney has accepted a role as GM Football Operations at the AFL
• 10/10: GM - Performance Daniel McPherson, and Head of AFLW/AFL Operations Manager Aysha Ward have been elevated to the club executive as joint leaders of the club's football department, as GM-AFL and GM-AFLW respectively

 

[DonsRule]

Or people who get into it because they want to use the club as their personal play thing.

While I agree at some level, hes done very very well for himself. Not many ex AFL players are developing $250m~-$400m~ developments be worth around $40m themselves by just their afl links. Thats a hell of a lot of money to play with.. Not arguing he likely wouldn't be there without his AFL career but very very few players have taken that kinda step post career.

 

[TheGrizz]

He made his money in property development. That doesn't require business acumen, it requires mates in the right places.

Which is why all footballers are worth what Welsh is, obviously.... wait.

 

[BrunoV]

I am not too worried by Andrew Welsh on the board in and of itself.

Successful club like Richmond (Emmett Dunne), Melbourne (Brad Green) and Sydney (Leo Barry and Michael O'Loughlin) have former players on there.

The question is, if you scrubbed out their name and ignored their playing career, are they qualified to join the board?
Welsh is now worth close to a quarter of a billion dollars through his business and property dealings, so I would personally consider his business acumen would qualify him to do so.

The problem is when you appoint guys 'coz football' ..... like Sheedy.

He has such an odd place in the game, does Micky O.

 

[Lore]

While I agree at some level, hes done very very well for himself. Not many ex AFL players are developing $250m~-$400m~ developments be worth around $40m themselves by just their afl links. Thats a hell of a lot of money to play with.. Not arguing he likely wouldn't be there without his AFL career but very very few players have taken that kinda step post career.

I don’t have anything against him personally, I don’t know him or much about him beyond his net worth. If he is good at what he does and can help Essendon turn around and act like a professional football club then so be it.

But I also don’t really care how much money he has made. There are some obvious examples of rich people you wouldn’t want in charge of your football club, and plenty who buy privately owned clubs in other sports as their own personal play thing.

His net worth is neither here nor there.

 

[boncer34]

Which is why all footballers are worth what Welsh is, obviously.... wait.

You're not that simple

 

[Old Campaigner]

Which is why all footballers are worth what Welsh is, obviously.... wait.

Not all of them get tipped off about an upcoming rezoning... and once you're in the real estate game it's hard to lose money. I work with a number of clients who do property development and none of them are what I'd consider to be especially bright despite making stupid amounts of money.

 

[foj1]

Which is why all footballers are worth what Welsh is, obviously.... wait.

Hooray
absolutely Agree
what a sanctimonious and self inflated lot you are criticising welsh
self made man who came from no affluent family
a real leader at the Calder cannons during their first premiership- not bad for a kid from westmeadows
got the absolute most out of himself as a footballer
then has made a fortune as a developer
your Cynicism and lack of respect is mind boggling
there Are some people on this site who make smart little critical comments to meet a need in their own life
the fact that welsh is willing to commit time to the club when he clearly does not have to only to be mentioned in the same vein as **** rings is horrible- don’t think these people know much about rings but they may know more about being a …………….

 

[DonsRule]

I don’t have anything against him personally, I don’t know him or much about him beyond his net worth. If he is good at what he does and can help Essendon turn around and act like a professional football club then so be it.

But I also don’t really care how much money he has made. There are some obvious examples of rich people you wouldn’t want in charge of your football club, and plenty who buy privately owned clubs in other sports as their own personal play thing.

His net worth is neither here nor there.

I guess I mean most of the time players get token jobs, where people are attracted to them because of their names/AFL ties, he’s done multiple developments, locally a few land developers have gone under doing very simular to what he does, granted even the syccessful ones may not be super business astute in the grand scheme of things.

 

[DERO]

He has such an odd place in the game, does Micky O.

Michael “rent my name” O’Loughlin?

 

[TheGrizz]

Not all of them get tipped off about an upcoming rezoning... and once you're in the real estate game it's hard to lose money. I work with a number of clients who do property development and none of them are what I'd consider to be especially bright despite making stupid amounts of money.

I'm not saying he didn't use his contacts to get started, I have no doubt he did.
But you don't go from making a nice slice out of land rezoning to making the money he has purely 'coz football' connections.

I mean his company landed a literal billion dollar deal to develop Armstrong creeks town centre, and sold the shopping centre for $55m just last year.
Do you think the developers of Armstrong Creek would hand him that sort of deal because he used to play football? Please.

 

[DERO]

as someone who has built a dynasty I can recognise someone who is almost my equal in Andrew Welsh

Andrew Welsh

Age

41

Ht

188cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.7

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.6

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.6

5star

.

 

[foj1]

I don’t have anything against him personally, I don’t know him or much about him beyond his net worth. If he is good at what he does and can help Essendon turn around and act like a professional football club then so be it.

But I also don’t really care how much money he has made. There are some obvious examples of rich people you wouldn’t want in charge of your football club, and plenty who buy privately owned clubs in other sports as their own personal play thing.

His net worth is neither here nor there.

His net worth shows someone who has worked hard, persevered, had a vision and plan and enjoyed success.
what there do you not want from a board member

 

[Lore]

His net worth shows someone who has worked hard, persevered, had a vision and plan and enjoyed success.
what there do you not want from a board member

He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last, so forgive me for not being ecstatic about it.

 

[Doss]

Urgh.

Net worth shmerth.

I have nothing against Andrew Welsh

Andrew Welsh

Age

41

Ht

188cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.7

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.6

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.6

5star

and it may well be that he does have some great business acumen (I am not in the real estate business so wouldn't have the foggiest), but JFC, let's not pretend that there's always a perfect correlation between net worth and ability or how hard you've worked.

 

[TheGrizz]

To be clear, I dont particularly care what amount of money he has.

All I'm saying is the 'great, another former player on the board' schtick is a really reductive way of looking at it.

To be as successful as he has been indicates he has some sort of deal making/business ability which would theoretically helpful as part of the board. And that's ultimately the most pertinent question.

 

[DERO]

To be clear, I dont particularly care what amount of money he has.

All I'm saying is the 'great, another former player on the board' schtick is a really reductive way of looking at it.

To be as successful as he has been indicates he has some sort of deal making/business ability which would theoretically helpful as part of the board. And that's ultimately the most pertinent question.

He works in construction so he is likely as dodgy as ****.

 

[Vander18]

I’m ambivalent re Welsh but confused by this idea that he lucked into his wealth….did he not buy the Amrstring Creek land FROM Dodo, Bomba et al? As opposed to being in on the deal with them…..am I missing something?
Presumably he already had a dollar or two when he bought it.

If that dollar or two came via utilising his footy connections….good on him. It’s called networking and it’s an important part of forging a career.

 

[DonsRule]

To be clear, I dont particularly care what amount of money he has.

All I'm saying is the 'great, another former player on the board' schtick is a really reductive way of looking at it.

To be as successful as he has been indicates he has some sort of deal making/business ability which would theoretically helpful as part of the board. And that's ultimately the most pertinent question.

That was by point too more or less

I'm not saying he didn't use his contacts to get started, I have no doubt he did.
But you don't go from making a nice slice out of land rezoning to making the money he has purely 'coz football' connections.

I mean his company landed a literal billion dollar deal to develop Armstrong creeks town centre, and sold the shopping centre for $55m just last year.
Do you think the developers of Armstrong Creek would hand him that sort of deal because he used to play football? Please.

this is pretty much my point too. Not the net worth in itself but you aren’t given that opportunity just because football absolutely it’s a massive help in building connection but you’re not buying said house/land/etc because he’s some footballer, make him an ambassador or something pay him $50k is a token job some rich prick may be willing to offer one , but he’s had some ability to get where he is.

 

[yodellinhank]

Urban sprawl and premierships.

 

[maskmcgee]

I have a general objection to any former player joining the board.

 

[Howard Moon]

Urban sprawl and premierships.

i saw him on a current affair, he promised a train station for the battlers of boom growth corridor homogenous urban outpost with artificial lake and didn't deliver said train station because it was outside his remit. Ruthless - even Tracy was aghast

 

[jmoo wan]

Hooray
absolutely Agree
what a sanctimonious and self inflated lot you are criticising welsh
self made man who came from no affluent family
a real leader at the Calder cannons during their first premiership- not bad for a kid from westmeadows
got the absolute most out of himself as a footballer
then has made a fortune as a developer
your Cynicism and lack of respect is mind boggling
there Are some people on this site who make smart little critical comments to meet a need in their own life
the fact that welsh is willing to commit time to the club when he clearly does not have to only to be mentioned in the same vein as **** rings is horrible- don’t think these people know much about rings but they may know more about being a …………….

oh please… it was a magical **** ring

 

[Eleven 38]

I feel like we need a former player kind of near the age group of the players. There's a clear disconnect with what the players need and what the board thinks they need. Hopefully Welsh can help bridge that gap.

 

[Howard Moon]

I feel like we need a former player kind of near the age group of the players. There's a clear disconnect with what the players need and what the board thinks they need. Hopefully Welsh can help bridge that gap.

Can't he just turn his hat backwards and sling his pants low exposing undies?

 

[ghostdog]

oh please… it was a magical **** ring

I was sure you'd concoct something from 'vein'. Disappointing.