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

 

[ghostdog]

Hard not to conclude the same old nuffies, the Coteries, the Sheeds/Dodo axis of old timers, whatever we label 'em, are proving too powerful to dislodge, otherwise you'd think the axe would have fallen in the off-season.

It reeks a bit of the Aus politics factionalism within the major parties. If you have to throw an election (sacrifice on-field performance) to maintain control over the party (or club), then that's a price worth paying for some. All about feeling like top dogs, no matter how small the kennel.

Optimates is the term you're looking for I reckon.

 

[citizen-erased]

It doesn’t help that old Essendon represents our only real link to success- they’ll simply point to the fact that everyone who has come after them has failed to reach the heights they did and insist they steer the ship because of that. Never mind that the league has changed immensely since their time and looking to club legends from the premiership era to fix things is essentially a cargo cult.

And those legends are actively undermining future success

 

[citizen-erased]

On dodoro and match committee i took the insinuation to be he'd be asked in on player profiles, and the meeting was in his room (maybe he has the bigger office?)

I get the logic behind asking the guy who recruited players on what they can do, but its fraught with risk. You ask the guy whose job is building a high performing list who can plug gaps in said list....self preservation kicks in and he names whoever. And we see the experiments we see

You're also running the risk that the person actively negotiating contracts has a say in the team selections/roles.

It's not ideal.
The coaches should know the capability of the players. They don't need the list team assisting the selection of the squad or the roles they play

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

If you need clarification of why we’ve been shit for the past decade look no further than Simon Madden on SEN.

“After the saga: We had to make sure we were secure financially first of all”

“After the saga: we had to go slowly with players to keep them. But now (10 years later) it’s a good time to start training them hard again”

 

[citizen-erased]

If you need clarification of why we’ve been s**t for the past decade look no further than Simon Madden on SEN.

“After the saga: We had to make sure we were secure financially first of all”

“After the saga: we had to go slowly with players to keep them. But now (10 years later) it’s a good time to start training them hard again”

People did say it would set us back a decade.
No one mentioned it would be a series of self inflicted wounds and own goals

 

[ant555]

Thank god we have Brad Scott, Truck never stood a chance and someone like Yze would've been eaten alive.

Probably a good point. I was keen on Yze but it is 100% clear that it was not the players who needed an experienced coach. It was the club.

 

[citizen-erased]

Probably a good point. I was keen on Yze but it is 100% clear that it was not the players who needed an experienced coach. It was the club.

Not the worst outcome getting the afl footy operations boss to sort us out

 

[Zach Package]

People did say it would set us back a decade.
No one mentioned it would be a series of self inflicted wounds and own goals

Bit of nostradumbass stuff here but I always said it would take until every single player involved is no longer on the list.

We’re just down to Heppell now with Ryder and Hurley staying on by choice but the backroom stuff is certainly not needed.

 

[Vander18]

If you need clarification of why we’ve been s**t for the past decade look no further than Simon Madden on SEN.

“After the saga: We had to make sure we were secure financially first of all”

“After the saga: we had to go slowly with players to keep them. But now (10 years later) it’s a good time to start training them hard again”

Jesus Christ….

 

[Lord Nicholson]

Thank god we have Brad Scott, Truck never stood a chance and someone like Yze would've been eaten alive.

I and many others pointed this out on Sept, and Wilson articulated it last night -- we ask our coaches to coach with one arm tied behind their back.

When they say Dodoro is typically "consulted" on match selection I feel like, in light of comments that some of the non-Essendon people who have coached us have said while exiting the club, "consulted" might be doing a truckload of heavy lifting (no pun intended)

How good or bad Dodoro is at his job is entirely irrelevant at this point; the club must try something else if only for the sake of potentially learning something about itself.

Sheeds president dodo ceo hird coach Harvey head of football get it done

 

[windyhill]

Sheeds president dodo ceo hird coach Harvey head of football get it done

 

[RearNaked]

Looks like a premiership hangover

 

[Milanista28]

Not the worst outcome getting the afl footy operations boss to sort us out

Most likely tin foil hat type stuff this, but I felt we were umpired well in our game, like we had the rub of the green. I hope it continues haha.

 

[Lore]

I can see Essendon being oh so clever that we've found a work-a-round and so we're using it regardless of whether it's actually in our best interests. I'd also question the $ for the boys side of it too if I were a paid up member.

If it's a way to sign players outside of the draft/trade system then sure, we absolutely would. It would be a very Dodoro type low-level troll move.

But when Harvey's role changed at the end of 2020 it was Xavier Campbell in the big chair and Dan Richardson (who was about to be sacked) that made it happen. I get succession plan vibes more than loophole vibes.

Also found this which might be of interest to you:

"At my age and where he (Campbell) sees me at with the football club, at 55 and one of the oldest coaches still in a football department, I made comment to him and said 12 months ago about what it might look for me," Harvey told AFL.com.au.

"It's a bit more of the coterie side of things, with a little bit of football department input around that area, (to provide) some expertise and what I've learnt over the last 20-odd years.

"Having a look at things like list development and a little bit of pro scouting.

"As a coach you study the opposition, you keep an eye on all of the players and it gives you a good understanding.

"When you're a senior coach, which I've also done, you're heavily involved in list management, so I've got an indication on how all that works."

Harvey explains new role

Mark Harvey discusses what his dual role at the club will look like in 2021.

www.essendonfc.com.au

But I also think Vozzo could be sorting through all this. It's weird, I think I'm on team Vozzo. I've been getting the feeling he could be just what we've always needed.

And you don't see people jumping up and down over Hurley.

Lloyd seemed to scoff that the coterie role would have any impact.

I don't think people generally have a problem with a bunch of deep pocketed fans donating to the club and being involved in the club in various ways.

Other clubs have coteries, and all of them have celebrated ex-players and ex-coaches both inside and outside the club, in the media, etc.

Those things aren't really unusual.

What is problematic is that the club could be charitably described as a hot mess, it has had a series of weak leaders that fold with a bit of pressure from AFL house, disappear when the going gets tough, or have their priorities all out of whack and decide that mollycoddling the players and trying desperately to rebuild the finances are the priorities for the next decade, regardless of any 5-10 year plans they might present at the AGM.

We've been in a position where the coteries have a lot of influence for a pretty long period of time, such that we've become reliant on coterie members to donate, to sit on the board, and to come white knighting whenever we have to break a few eggs, aided and abetted by long-term employees, ex-players and ex-coaches who have never known anything different and have been so close to it for so long that they can't see what is wrong with it. Heck, likely also some current players and current coaches.

If there was one thing Sheedy showed us it's that this club has to have a strong personality at the centre of it who is willing to lead, who has high standards and is willing to change course when necessary, and to defend that decision convincingly and logically to all comers, wealthy or otherwise. Someone that has the gravitas to tell the list manager to go fly a kite, the coteries to shut up and open their chequebooks, and the pleb members to buy a ticket and bring marshmallows. If they happen to win a few finals, so much the better (but we might as well be asking for the stars to align).

Sheedy is well past it himself these days, and trying to carve out that space for himself again is actually making it harder for those who can take us into the future.

But we do need strong leadership at this club. One can only hope that Scott/Vozzo/Barham might be that, but if not there's always the next 150 years.

Re: Lloyd, see the green font above.

 

[Lore]

Figured I'd watch a bit of 360, fast forward for the Essendon bits, duh. Eddie Betts talking about our game, said nice stuff but nothing in particular... but apparently Robbo didn't even watch the game, he watched the other one instead. Thank god? He didn't elaborate but

 

[citizen-erased]

Figured I'd watch a bit of 360, fast forward for the Essendon bits, duh. Eddie Betts talking about our game, said nice stuff but nothing in particular... but apparently Robbo didn't even watch the game, he watched the other one instead. Thank god? He didn't elaborate but

defeated?
also, what other game? I didnt think there was an overlap of the games?

 

[andleanback]

Figured I'd watch a bit of 360, fast forward for the Essendon bits, duh. Eddie Betts talking about our game, said nice stuff but nothing in particular... but apparently Robbo didn't even watch the game, he watched the other one instead. Thank god? He didn't elaborate but

Guessing he was watching the gws come back. It was actually a cracking game. Its funny though if we hadve got smacked, he would’ve been shooting from the hip even though he didn’t watch it

 

[Lore]

defeated?
also, what other game? I didnt think there was an overlap of the games?

Giants v Adelaide as andleanback said. Would've probably seen the half-time score between games then watched the Saints vs Freo game that would've started as soon as Giants v Adelaide finished. Our game was ch 7 and the other two were foxfooty, so would've been broadcast back to back.

 

[Lore]

Guessing he was watching the gws come back. It was actually a cracking game. It funny though if we hadve got smacked, he would’ve been shooting from the hip even though he didn’t watch it

Amazing that such a vocal nuffy writing crap about us on a weekly basis and talking shit on tv twice a week didn't even watch it. You'd think if he had some sort of work obligation on the other two games he'd at least have watched the replay while writing up his column for the Herald Sun...

I don't think I've seen him say really anything about the Browne/McClure/Caro stuff last week. Usually would be the first one to lay into Caro. Wonder if the dog has been put on a leash

 

[andleanback]

Amazing that such a vocal nuffy writing crap about us on a weekly basis and talking s**t on tv twice a week didn't even watch it. You'd think if he had some sort of work obligation on the other two games he'd at least have watched the replay while writing up his column for the Herald Sun...

I don't think I've seen him say really anything about the Browne/McClure/Caro stuff last week. Usually would be the first one to lay into Caro. Wonder if the dog has been put on a leash

He said it was a load of crap on Friday night, in reference to it being a ticking time bomb. He hates caro so it would’ve be short priced for him to dispute it.

 

[citizen-erased]

there was a brief furnace moment and he called it an overreaction
Maybe it is, but i don't think it's baseless. You don't make the moves we did if there wasn't something disruptive there.

So far Vozzo has managed to pour some water on Dodoro v Mahoney, has removed Scott from the feud, kept Sheedy and Barham relatively out of things, and Team Hird has been quiet of late.

Let's see how he fares when we don't win, but so far so good.

 

[yodellinhank]

there was a brief furnace moment and he called it an overreaction
Maybe it is, but i don't think it's baseless. You don't make the moves we did if there wasn't something disruptive there.

So far Vozzo has managed to pour some water on Dodoro v Mahoney, has removed Scott from the feud, kept Sheedy and Barham relatively out of things, and Team Hird has been quiet of late.

Let's see how he fares when we don't win, but so far so good.

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

Sheedy and Dodo should be thanked for their service, given a lifetime wristy voucher from their chosen pool of lickspittles and then shown the door. Once they’re gone we may actually move forward. At the moment retaining the pair of them is like attaching an anchor to a speedboat. We’ve got Brad Scott with his captains hat on at the helm revving the engine, the bois are loaded up ready to head out for a cruise and we’ve got a couple of old has beens demanding we stay moored listening to their war stories about the glory days of the 80’s and 90’s .

 

[Bombermania]

For those that wanted to watch the clip

Matty Lloyd has gone from saying the club needs change to now defending the club and we wonder why this club has issues.

If Adrian isn't willing to accept the need for change, then he has to go.

 

[Bombermania]

If it's somehow true Dodo has cracked it cause he's been outed from the selection committee meetings it would be an all time low... Seriously what list manager guy should be anywhere near those places? Oh but he picked the boys, he knows them.. pls.

Kick him to the curb. Stat. If he cared about anything other than his own tv time he'd have already gracefully handed in his jackets by now

Adrian might have selected them, but we have been playing them out of position so much for Adrian being in the room, if he ever was.