Coaching Staff Former Coach Ben "Truck" Rutten - Sacked for real this time - 21/8

[Lore]

Feel for Rutten, He has poorly coached at times and missed key players to injury however the ultimate responsibility rests with the players and its them that should be feeling the heat.

The guy who drafted them

The guy who gutted the player development/VFL team

The guy who let the Indigenous programs go

The guy who presided over an exodus of good people

The culture that allowed those people to do that and never called it out

 

[Seb78]

Poor bloke, sounds like he is applying for the job

 

[BomberManU]

He’s the only one that actually acts like he gives a s**t about the supporters

I’m so confused

Listening to him now, we should be giving him more power, more say in everything footy related.

 

[Tassieboy]

“I love the club and want to take it forward”.

 

[Phone]

he's mainly making a pitch for the club to get on the same page which you can probably go back to Wilson's article...

 

[Lore]

if we get rid of truck now then they will loose so many of us Essendon faithful.
This is our Hardwick/Goodwin moment. If we fold now then we are setting ourselves back years.

I love this club so much and if we turn our back our truck we are essentially turning our back on the players and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to support that.

It feels like that for sure… but I don’t know if Essendon is willing to have a Hardwick moment

 

[Tassieboy]

When Rutten is saying the players need help because they are the ones leading the club, what is Rutten and rest of the coaches doing? Or was he just slagging off at Campbell?

 

[Burzum]

Extend his contract.

 

[nipst@r]

Tough as been treated horribly. But when you watch seems to struggle tactically.

 

[ant555]

Sook coach and sook players “I’m proud of them” just got smashed mate

 

[bomberlegend2007]

He will win us a flag if we give him faith.

 

[Mootsy]

When Rutten is saying the players need help because they are the ones leading the club, what is Rutten and rest of the coaches doing?

I think what he means is that right now the people running the club and in departments etc are too tied up in people politics and aren’t on the same page and aren’t working as a team like the players are. Now Rutten came from Richmond where he experienced a club where everything had to be in sync to function well. So he’s being very blunt. I think that was also why he emotionally shook every tiger players hand as well. To show Essendon what unity can look like, But that’s my opinion.

You get the feeling that there is a push to get the old boys club back by some people, that’s how I read that whole post game showcase.

It’s really hard to know what’s gong on, to be fair. It’s just a guess based on observing body language during the post match.

You can bet it’s probably complicated, whatever it is.

 

[bennyg12]

Hard watching that...What a shit show

 

[JayJ20]

I’m listening to Rutten and this is probably the most disappointed I’ve ever been in the club in my 18 years of following the club and we went through the darkest period in Australian sport. Disgusting how they’ve treated Rutten.

Get rid of Dodoro and the rest of the crew and get this external review going immediately.

 

[Duckworth]

I’m not sure I understand this. We call for an external review, but Barham is holding a meeting tomorrow to decide what happens to Rutten?

Why not make some sound decisions based on the review.

 

[Phone]

He will win us a flag if we give him faith.

i think the reality in sport is that you can do the right stuff and not get the result, and do the wrong stuff and get the result, so something final like this is misguided imo.

but simply, I'm not sure what we get from sacking Rutten. Reality is, this is a team that had a squad built for that mid 2010s period. that obviously went nowhere because 38 people got banned. we should have rebuilt the squad from 2017 but obviously we couldn't do that because it was more important to keep the Hurleys, Hookers and Myers etc, and then we topped up to try to savage something from that wreck and for those players. Then we should have rebuilt after 2020 when 3 players who at their best are All-Australians left the joint, and we kinda did. but after one better-than-expected season we didn't make any attempt to get more draft picks, recruited a fairly average 26yo on a 3 year deal, and then we're losing our minds when we take the same step back that many many many teams (including Essendon) take

One thing I truly believe is that Rutten doesn't have to be sacked just because we made things awkward for him.

 

[thepokey]

He will have endeared himself to a lot of other clubs out there with the way he's handled himself. I think he'll land on his feet at least with no shortage of other coaches wanting him as part of their team.

 

[JayJ20]

I hope Barham tenders his resignation immediately after the board meeting tomorrow. A leader should have empathy and the ability to have composure in times of difficulty. He failed both aspects literally in his fist two days as president.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Feel for Truck, he's handled himself with class all throughout this. A paid year out of the game next year and a return to assistant coaching in 2024 will do him wonders. Wish him all the best.

 

[Eleven 38]

If the board is divided on Rutten he has to go,

There's no other option. The board has to unite from tomorrow otherwise there is no way forward.

 

[Burzum]

One thing I truly believe is that Rutten doesn't have to be sacked just because we made things awkward for him.

Completely agree. I haven't understood the "his position is untenable" talking point.

 

[Lore]

The problem is, he’s ****ing spot on.

 

[Phone]

If the board is divided on Rutten he has to go,

There's no other option. The board has to unite from tomorrow otherwise there is no way forward.

the board can jump in a lake. thats a way forward

 

[Tassieboy]

It seems to be a relatively unpopular position but I don’t really think you can sack a coach after 2 seasons unless things are dire. Yes they are bad, but 18-26 isn’t the end of the world. However, in addition to the mess we have created this week - cheered on by many Essendon supporters and past players like Matthew Lloyd - we are going to have to make a decision re Rutten again next year even if he someone survives this. I don’t think he will be renewed next year so there’s certainly an element of ‘we have come this far we might as well move forward now’ and I understand that.

At the very least, even though it’s ideally too late, a well commissioned external review needs to be undertaken and the board should adhere to its recommendations however unpopular they may be.

 

[Zach Package]

If the board is divided on Rutten he has to go,

There's no other option. The board has to unite from tomorrow otherwise there is no way forward.

The board has committed to an external review that will plot the path forward, they should be all locked in padded cells until the findings of that are laid bare.

They’re no doubt going to make a call tomorrow which would somehow be the worst thing they’ve done all week.