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]

The poster who described Sheedy as a narcissist and a megalomaniac was spot on.

Loved your work Sheeds, but FFS, get a clue.

 

[Doss]

The poster who described Sheedy as a narcissist and a megalomaniac was spot on.

Loved your work Sheeds, but FFS, get a clue.

Don’t really care about the clue anymore. I’d just rather he get lost.

 

[citizen-erased]

Cmon now. No list manager has dealt with the other s**t EFC has brought upon itself to even know if they’d do any better.

Noble and Reid did ok after the crows threw itself to the wolves over tippett and losing gun after gun to clubs outside SA to build a club that for a brief period looked the best in the country and made a GF....if i recall, their draft sanctions were worse

 

[citizen-erased]

So the rest of us don't have to click..

View attachment 1631470

Still not a sliding doors, but the assessment is bang on.

I picture images of scott from the roos coaching box after dubious free kicks.....but in meetings at the hangar

 

[ghostdog]

Don’t really care about the clue anymore. I’d just rather he get lost.

Well, I probably would have used the word 'retire', but yeah. It's time to go.

 

[bomberlegend2007]

I honestly think Scott knows how shit the situation is at Essendon before he got the job. Im sure it’s been a running gag at AFL House for the last few years.

 

[faible]

Noble and Reid did ok after the crows threw itself to the wolves over tippett and losing gun after gun to clubs outside SA to build a club that for a brief period looked the best in the country and made a GF....if i recall, their draft sanctions were worse

They also didn’t have an entire playing group suspended, churn through coaches and have the soul of the club destroyed for the best part of the decade though.

It’s not all just about the draft sanctions.

 

[citizen-erased]

They also didn’t have an entire playing group suspended, churn through coaches and have the soul of the club destroyed for the best part of the decade though.

It’s not all just about the draft sanctions.

I dont see anything outside the sanctions and the potential exodus as an excuse

They also had a father figure coach murdered mid season.
Went craig to sanderson to walsh to pyke. Not too different from us.

Taking more than 4-5 years to rebuild isnt sustainable in the afl anymore. Dodoro and team have been less than underwhelming

 

[faible]

I dont see anything outside the sanctions and the potential exodus as an excuse

Ok.

 

[ant555]

I dont see anything outside the sanctions and the potential exodus as an excuse

They also had a father figure coach murdered mid season.
Went craig to sanderson to walsh to pyke. Not too different from us.

Taking more than 4-5 years to rebuild isnt sustainable in the afl anymore. Dodoro and team have been less than underwhelming

The last line is not true IMO. Most proper rebuilds take 5 to 7 years and if you try and take short cuts you end up spending 2 or 3 different periods doing a rebuild. Sustainable does not really come into it.
Richmond. Melbourne. Bulldogs (under 2 coaches).
The Crows are a bit different . They player in a GF 6 years ago so there was still some players on the list that had finals winning experience.
Collingwood are in the same boat. Everyone missed the fact that they had 13 players in their best side last year that had played in a GF.
Geelong to 7 years under Bomber and then changed the tend by continually having a good core group and culture.
There are variations.
Our issue is we have no finals winning culture to lean on. It will take every bit of 7 years to turn it around if they actually get it right.

 

[bomberlegend2007]

The last line is not true IMO. Most proper rebuilds take 5 to 7 years and if you try and take short cuts you end up spending 2 or 3 different periods doing a rebuild. Sustainable does not really come into it.
Richmond. Melbourne. Bulldogs (under 2 coaches).
The Crows are a bit different . They player in a GF 6 years ago so there was still some players on the list that had finals winning experience.
Collingwood are in the same boat. Everyone missed the fact that they had 13 players in their best side last year that had played in a GF.
Geelong to 7 years under Bomber and then changed the tend by continually having a good core group and culture.
There are variations.
Our issue is we have no finals winning culture to lean on. It will take every bit of 7 years to turn it around if they actually get it right.

So how many years into our rebuild are we?

 

[citizen-erased]

The last line is not true IMO. Most proper rebuilds take 5 to 7 years and if you try and take short cuts you end up spending 2 or 3 different periods doing a rebuild. Sustainable does not really come into it.
Richmond. Melbourne. Bulldogs (under 2 coaches).
The Crows are a bit different . They player in a GF 6 years ago so there was still some players on the list that had finals winning experience.
Collingwood are in the same boat. Everyone missed the fact that they had 13 players in their best side last year that had played in a GF.
Geelong to 7 years under Bomber and then changed the tend by continually having a good core group and culture.
There are variations.
Our issue is we have no finals winning culture to lean on. It will take every bit of 7 years to turn it around if they actually get it right.

I should have clarified thats 4-5 years to get to competitive finals stage.
Then you get a window to add whats needed for a premiership. Im not looking that far forward any time soon

 

[ant555]

So how many years into our rebuild are we?

This one three but it is a set back changing coaches.
I know what people say. We have been rebuilding for 20 years but the fact is a lot of the time when it happens there are 2 or 3 failed rebuilds like Carlton
In our case we did a 5 or 6 year build from 2007 after spending years topping up after 2000. We then had the saga to deal with and then tried to hang on and top up thinking we where still in the window in 2017/2018/2019.
History in the AFL says continually turning over coaches also pushes the time line out.
After the 2020 season there was a clear start to another rebuild.

 

[ant555]

I should have clarified thats 4-5 years to get to competitive finals stage.
Then you get a window to add whats needed for a premiership. Im not looking that far forward any time soon

You leant that lesson last year.
Right now I think we are in year 3 but changing coaches generally adds more time to it.

 

[citizen-erased]

You leant that lesson last year.
Right now I think we are in year 3 but changing coaches generally adds more time to it.

Bright side is i reckon brad has the experience and maturity to adapt his plan to a group whilst shaping it at the same time. I don't expect a square peg/round hole approach.

I also think he hamstring ourselves with our recruiting too.
We cant seem to build quality mature depth.
Whilst merrett, ridley, redman, mcgrath, parish, etc developed it was on heppell, shiel, Smith, hooker, daniher, saad
Most of them are gone, so whilst hobbs, tsatas, reid, perkins, cox develop, its on merrett, parish, mcgrath ridley, redman to stand up.

Some of it is from a 2013/14 pinch but i reckon a lot is from just before that where heppell and daniher were our only decent picks for 3-4 years. One is nearly cooked and the other left.
And our inability to get players beyond 30 without breaking down

I reckon merrett and parish will be veteran stage before we compete. So we really need them to be competitive 30+ year olds

 

[yodellinhank]

Don’t really care about the clue anymore. I’d just rather he get lost.

That's just so Essington quick fix. Get rid of Sheeds and everything will be okay. It didn't work last time.

You leant that lesson last year.
Right now I think we are in year 3 but changing coaches generally adds more time to it.

We can't do a proper rebuild without a proper knock down, and too much seems heritage listed.

 

[andleanback]

So how many years into our rebuild are we?

I’d say this is year 3 list strategy wise, year 1 for everything else. As mentioned by other posters it’s a lot harder when you don’t have that older core who have been there done that and know what it takes, you’re sortve fumbling around in the dark for a while and hope everything comes together and clicks.

 

[ant555]

Bright side is i reckon brad has the experience and maturity to adapt his plan to a group whilst shaping it at the same time. I don't expect a square peg/round hole approach.

I also think he hamstring ourselves with our recruiting too.
We cant seem to build quality mature depth.
Whilst merrett, ridley, redman, mcgrath, parish, etc developed it was on heppell, shiel, Smith, hooker, daniher, saad
Most of them are gone, so whilst hobbs, tsatas, reid, perkins, cox develop, its on merrett, parish, mcgrath ridley, redman to stand up.

Some of it is from a 2013/14 pinch but i reckon a lot is from just before that where heppell and daniher were our only decent picks for 3-4 years. One is nearly cooked and the other left.
And our inability to get players beyond 30 without breaking down

I reckon merrett and parish will be veteran stage before we compete. So we really need them to be competitive 30+ year olds

Not being able to really nail 3 drafts in a 5 year period along they was has hurt us. The best clubs have draft fails as well but nearly all have had a window in their build where they have produced 8 or 9 top end players in a 3 to 4 year period. We have had some good drafts but they have been more 2 good players one year. One good player the next. It is a discussion for the Adrian thread but 2007 - 2011. I know this is very hindsight but
2007 swap Myers for Dangerfield or Rioli. (I was Rhys Palmer then Dangerfield so I did not get it right either.)
2008 got Hurley and Zaka . You could argue for different players but it was a solid get with those 2. Only Savage came after our 3rd round pick who I rated but he was no star.
2009 take one of Gawn / Stratton / Astbury / Reid as well as managing to keep Melksham and Carlisle or even take Talia or Fyfe or Duncan etc
2010 Heppell was my fisrt choice. Luke parker my second. To McDonald came later on.
2011 got nothing. Could have easily had Seb Ross.

Like I said very hindsight and a lot of clubs also missed various players at various stages but it is what you need to happen to get into the top 4 window along with the trading and FA periods.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

That's just so Essington quick fix. Get rid of Sheeds and everything will be okay. It didn't work last time.

The exchange from the end of Munich comes to mind:

"Did we accomplish anything at all? Every man we killed has been replaced by worse."
"Why cut my finger nails? They'll grow back."

 

[Howard Moon]

This hunch might not be based on fact entirely but I feel like as a club we have never really been an organisation that has been built or has had success via it's methods or organisation, its been more about a star individual who takes the club with him for a period.

So it's been 20 odd years since we've had any success, before that the Sheedy era had a successful clump of flags, prior to that another 20 odd years to the Coleman coached era, before that the Reynolds, another 20 odd year gap to the original early flags.

I mean it just feels like we are waiting for our next hero to take us upon his shoulders like dick or John or Kevin, rather than a successful club built upon method and administration or whatever else a good club is built on.

It's not really tenable having a white knight every 20 years, is it? Even if you find one it's only fleeting...I'm not old enough to know how much political residue was left after Reynolds or Coleman but if it was the same as post Sheedy you can see why there's always a 2 decade draught between hits

 

[Phone]

So how many years into our rebuild are we?

We started rebuilding again after 2020. The rebuild should have started following the drug saga but we choose emotion over logic and "fought" the exodus for little gain and much loss and ****ed up the timeline, but given how popular this decision was at the time the Essendon fans can't really complain about this. We started rebuilding going into 2021 following an actual exodus but fluked a finals appearance which set things back.

 

[yodellinhank]

2007 swap Myers for Dangerfield or Rioli. (I was Rhys Palmer then Dangerfield so I did not get it right either.)

Now we're at the heart of the problem.

 

[thebigboy]

So how many years into our rebuild are we?

Have we ever actually rebuilt?

2008 onwards under Knights was a bit of a mismatch of an aging list being turned over and a bunch of younger/mid guys that got us into the finals with 10 wins.

Under Hird (Pre Saga) we were a decent to good side that we’re looking at building towards something.

2016 we were forced to blood youngsters and get them into the lineup by necessity.

2017 onwards has been a constant state of top up (Smith Shiel Stringer etc). Arguably the first “rebuild” came in 2020/21 after the exodus. And even then, it hasn’t been the classic rebuild, it still feels like a pseudo rebuild without fully bottoming out until this season.

What’s caused this? An insatiable desire to recapture the glory years without the stability and honesty to fully embrace being trash and sticking to a plan and taking some kicks along the way.

 

[faible]

Have we ever actually rebuilt?

2008 onwards under Knights was a bit of a mismatch of an aging list being turned over and a bunch of younger/mid guys that got us into the finals with 10 wins.

Under Hird (Pre Saga) we were a decent to good side that we’re looking at building towards something.

2016 we were forced to blood youngsters and get them into the lineup by necessity.

2017 onwards has been a constant state of top up (Smith Shiel Stringer etc). Arguably the first “rebuild” came in 2020/21 after the exodus. And even then, it hasn’t been the classic rebuild, it still feels like a pseudo rebuild without fully bottoming out until this season.

What’s caused this? An insatiable desire to recapture the glory years without the stability and honesty to fully embrace being trash and sticking to a plan and taking some kicks along the way.

The whole slash and burn rebuild doesn't appear to be necessary unless you completely trash your list. Clubs like Geelong & Sydney have never really rebuilt in that sense for 20 odd years now, they've just had seasons where they've focused on stepping back a bit to blood young players / send players off for surgery to get injuries right / pocket a high draft pick or two and pop right back up. Obviously having a strong core group of players allows this.

If you put off the rebuild too long, like a North, Hawthorn or Carlton, you have to drastically cut the list back to be shit for a long while to get a critical mass of decent players.

We've never truly had a shit enough list to cut every senior player all at once, but we've made huge mistakes every time we should be building up (or taking a step back) that's kept the list in nowhere land.

Instead of rebuilding around 2016 / 2017 we topped up which meant another few years of being ok-but-not-great before Daniher breaks, checks out, and ultimately forces a rebuild upon the club.

They then get 2 years in to a rebuild, after falling in to finals in 2021, and decide that Rutten not making finals in untenable (despite it being a rebuild) and have dumped him for Scott. Scott at least has made it very clear from the outset that he's not the man to hire if they want to top-up and play finals right now with this current list.

West Coast have also been a very well run club for a long time post the Cousins-era. So hopefully Vozzo as CEO brings a clear vision as to how a well run club looks, and between he and Scott we can develop an organisation like a Geelong or Sydney who operates in a sustainable fashion.

 

[citizen-erased]

Not being able to really nail 3 drafts in a 5 year period along they was has hurt us. The best clubs have draft fails as well but nearly all have had a window in their build where they have produced 8 or 9 top end players in a 3 to 4 year period. We have had some good drafts but they have been more 2 good players one year. One good player the next. It is a discussion for the Adrian thread but 2007 - 2011. I know this is very hindsight but
2007 swap Myers for Dangerfield or Rioli. (I was Rhys Palmer then Dangerfield so I did not get it right either.)
2008 got Hurley and Zaka . You could argue for different players but it was a solid get with those 2. Only Savage came after our 3rd round pick who I rated but he was no star.
2009 take one of Gawn / Stratton / Astbury / Reid as well as managing to keep Melksham and Carlisle or even take Talia or Fyfe or Duncan etc
2010 Heppell was my fisrt choice. Luke parker my second. To McDonald came later on.
2011 got nothing. Could have easily had Seb Ross.

Like I said very hindsight and a lot of clubs also missed various players at various stages but it is what you need to happen to get into the top 4 window along with the trading and FA periods.

Which i think you need to assess your constant within the team when you review.
Is it fluke that some clubs nail these drafts, or bring in culture builders (i.e. leaders), or game changers....all of this we seem to fall short of.

It is very hindsight. But that's the nature of this part of the business.
You aren't necessarily assessed in the moment. It should be your tenure.

that period you highlight above, the top-up post 2016, the left field picks, the lack of some AFL basics (bigger mids, KP depth).

I'm surprised it hasn't had more light focused on it.
So far, all i can tell is Dodoro has had his boss changed because they were clashing. And Merv is back. but i reckon that was more getting him back to work and doing the right thing than us being proactive in beefing up the recruitment team.
And it looks like Mahoney still has oversight but Dodoro doesn't report to him.