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

[naraku]

Seems to me that the support of the players is just about the only bargaining chip Rutten has got.
In that it would be a very unpopular move among the players that could spark an exodus.
But, like Barham said, he's out to set a line in the sand. Who knows what's gonna happen?

Well, are we not half here because of the player's?

They should look at themselves see who they're supposed to representing out on the field. And if the penny still doesn't drop, see ya later.

 

[frodos gardener]

I’m good with change. Change to what?

Change to Hird? Change to Clarkson? Change to another Worsfoldesque ex-premiership coach that we can chew up and spit out? Or maybe a new rookie coach?

The problem is that the change we need is the stuff the guy we already have is talking about. We need change in the sense of clearing out all the bullshit in-between, funding it properly, getting back to the basics of being a good, great, and successful football club with a marketing arm, rather than a lucrative marketing firm operating under the guise of a non-profit community club.

You are definitely right about that. What gives me some hope is that at least now the current President sees the need for an external review. I am not a fan of getting rid of Rutten but even if they do sack him, am crossing fingers Barham drives the kind of org change EFC needs.

 

[Lore]

You are definitely right about that. What gives me some hope is that at least now the current President sees the need for an external review. I am not a fan of getting rid of Rutten but even if they do sack him, am crossing fingers Barham drives the kind of org change EFC needs.

Something to cling to until the other shoe drops at least

 

[bombadeer]

We have a choice here.

Cut out the cancerous boys club and move forward as a club.
Or
Fire truck, continue to * our staff and players over like we have for 10 years.

Essendon is a cancerous boys club. It’s not even a secret, everyone in the industry knows this. It’s a club run by the coteries, for the coteries.

The perennial question “what do the bombers stand for” has an answer, but it’s an answer that as a rank and file supporter you might not want to grasp. It’s not for you. It’s for them, and they are fine with the ways things are.

Sheedy survived as coach for 20+ years because he's a shrewd political operator, absolutely loved it. He spent considerable time an effort shoring up his position with the coteries and therefore the board - that’s what it takes to survive as a coach at this ****ing club.

Rutten does not strike me as the Machiavellian type - he probably thought he’d be able to just focus on coaching the footy team.

Clarkson would have known better.

 

[Albertross]

The football on the desk during the after game presser looked as deflated as what Truck did.

 

[andleanback]

Rutten is in cloud cuckoo land
Asking too much of the players
Give me a ******* spell

They actually had a crack tonight that’s all you can ask….. but anyone just had to be there live tonight to know why we are where we are. There is ZERO game plan that stands up at all. Our plan for scoring is hoping shiel/ merrett win the ball out of the middle and go forward. ZERO system behind the ball and inability to defend the ground.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Most interesting part of the presser for mine was “I didn’t play here but I am an Essendon person”.

Ie “I’m Essendon too, step treating me like shit because I’m not an old boy”

 

[Doss]

Most interesting part of the presser for mine was “I didn’t play here but I am an Essendon person”.

Ie “I’m Essendon too, step treating me like s**t because I’m not an old boy”

An incredibly non-abstract concept that the club could remember is easily demonstrated by..oh that’s right, what Sheedy was when he landed at Essendon in 1980.

 

[Bombermania]

Rutten is in cloud cuckoo land
Asking too much of the players
Give me a ******* spell

They actually had a crack tonight that’s all you can ask….. but anyone just had to be there live tonight to know why we are where we are. There is ZERO game plan that stands up at all. Our plan for scoring is hoping shiel/ merrett win the ball out of the middle and go forward. ZERO system behind the ball and inability to defend the ground.

It looks odd however if there is any truth to talk of Rutten not being on good terms with Adrian then it could be taken as a backhanded compliment at the club's list management.

 

[yodellinhank]

Most interesting part of the presser for mine was “I didn’t play here but I am an Essendon person”.

Ie “I’m Essendon too, step treating me like s**t because I’m not an old boy”

He wins me over with crap like that.

 

[andleanback]

He wins me over with crap like that.

Yeh it would be handy if he actually had a game plan though

 

[yodellinhank]

An incredibly non-abstract concept that the club could remember is easily demonstrated by..oh that’s right, what Sheedy was when he landed at Essendon in 1980.

Sheedy fought division his whole way through.

 

[Atavistic]

#standbytruck

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Yeh it would be handy if he actually had a game plan though

You’re not gonna like this but…

Winning, reliable, consistent game plans take years to bed in. Years.

 

[Zach Package]

Rutten is in cloud cuckoo land
Asking too much of the players
Give me a ******* spell

They actually had a crack tonight that’s all you can ask….. but anyone just had to be there live tonight to know why we are where we are. There is ZERO game plan that stands up at all. Our plan for scoring is hoping shiel/ merrett win the ball out of the middle and go forward. ZERO system behind the ball and inability to defend the ground.

I encourage you to watch that game again and watch how much harder Richmond run in comparison to us and how much pretty well every other club runs harder than us. How much better their follow up, spread and their second efforts were, they have some genuine hacks out there but **** me can they run, and that more than makes up for it.

That’s what he meant by asking too much of players. They are the most unfit side in the league by the length of the Flemington straight, they are never in a fair fight.

 

[naraku]

Sheedy fought division his whole way through.

You would think Sheedy would support Truck BECAUSE he went through that. And I mean about neither been an "old boy".
If Sheedy doesn't back him because he doesn't think he is right, well ok that's his opinion. But if it's to do with Rutten not been "Essendon" , that old grub needs to look in the mirror.

 

[andleanback]

I encourage you to watch that game again and watch how much harder Richmond run in comparison to us and how much pretty well every other club runs harder than us. How much better their follow up, spread and their second efforts were, they have some genuine hacks out there but **** me can they run, and that more than makes up for it.

That’s what he meant by asking too much of players. They are the most unfit side in the league by the length of the Flemington straight, they are never in a fair fight.

I was there. With a great view of the whole thing. We looked like we were running on quicksand and Richmond were gliding across the ground. Although it’s easy to look good when you’re moving the ball forward without any defensive set up stopping you.

 

[Burzum]

Rd 23 | Rutten post-game

Watch Essendon's press conference after round 23's match against Richmond

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[Doss]

Rd 23 | Rutten post-game

Watch Essendon's press conference after round 23's match against Richmond

www.essendonfc.com.au

I wish this man the absolute best and that includes if we’re stupid enough to cut him adrift tomorrow.

I don’t care if he says y’know too much.

He’s a good human being and he wants others to be their best selves. That counts for something.

 

[Burzum]

You would think Sheedy would support Truck BECAUSE he went through that. And I mean about neither been an "old boy".
If Sheedy doesn't back him because he doesn't think he is right, well ok that's his opinion. But if it's to do with Rutten not been "Essendon" , that old grub needs to look in the mirror.

Sheedy is a nutter now so take everything he says with a grain of salt. He wants Hird to be coach.

 

[Call Me Cake]

oh that’s right, what Sheedy was when he landed at Essendon in 1980.

Essendon wins:

1976: 9 wins, 10th, 88.2%
1977: 7 wins, 9th, 82.8%
1978: 8 wins, 10th, 94.3%
1979: 12 wins, 5th, 105.1%
1980: 10 wins, 7th, 105.4%

[a wild sheedy appears]

1981: 16 wins, 4th, 127.6%
1982: 16 wins, 4th, 125.4%
1983: 15 wins, 4th, 123.0% + Grand Final
1984: 18 wins, 1st, 128.2% + Premiership
1985: 19 wins, 1st, 138.4% + Premiership

Winning 16 games in your first 2 seasons, making a Granny in your 3rd, and winning two back to back flags kinda helps.

Sheedy could've been from Mars or a Flinders Ln alleyway and it wouldn't have mattered after seeing that turnaround.

I'm not saying coaches should never be from any other club, but I'm also saying using Sheedy as an example is a bit out of touch. I wasn't even alive at the time and even I can see the clear distinction he's in when it comes to the topic of gaining trust at a club in relation to origin.

Think it's more people just trying to look for ways to excuse bad habits and to find reasoning in backing someone in on sentiments rather than a sheer grasp on the job at hand. But it's gotta be both. More the latter, even if it hurts to admit. I think whoever coaches us - they must show signs. Signs are what gets you trust. Signs are what buys you patience. Signs are what keeps you for the long haul. Otherwise you better do a Sheedy - not just in not being from Essendon - but having a pretty quick and linear impact as well. The former seems more attainable/realistic, yet the most difficult to prove.

 

[Doss]

Sure cake but my point was really quite simple.

Sheedy was a Richmond thug. If the extremist ‘must be an Essendon person’ ideology had won the day, he would have been nowhere near the entrance to the club in the first place.

At some point any semblance of “oh well this person has x club connection, that’s gotta count for something” needs to be cast aside and burnt with fire.

We’ve never truly done that since the days of looking for Sheedy’s replacement.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Out of the 4 coaches we've signed post-Sheedy, only 1 has been an Essendon person.

So I think it's out of touch because Sheedy himself is in a different category (as outlined earlier), it doesn't fit the overall narrative - and is a result of a pretty low sample size in the grand scheme of things club history-wise due to Sheeds taking up the 26 years prior.

If we had the Essendon-person lust that is described, then we never would have signed Knights, never would have signed Worsfold and never would have signed Rutten. It's as simple as that. And even in the Hird era we were sober enough to know when it was right to part ways - and didn't just replace him with another Essendon person in the wake of it.

And our most recent pursuit, was less from where he was from, and more from what he could bring in terms of stability and trust (even though in hindsight we could clearly see he was a flog of the highest order for the empty and unjustified lead-on that he could have ended at any point after declining GWS).

In regards to Hird, I think it's less about Hird being an Essendon person that makes Sheedy (reportedly) an advocate - but more-so because Sheedy knows that Hird knows everything that he knows. He taught him. He mentored him. It's more about Hird being the student of what was a linearly improving, straight shooting, premiership winning turn-around king in Sheedy than anything else. And I can understand that. Doesn't exactly mean Hird is a great coach, but I can understand where he'd be coming from.

But like I said, it's either you pull a Sheedy, which quickly helps absolve you of any Essendon link (hard to do, because he wasn't just any person) - or you show consistent signs of improvement, even in a loss, to indicate a reason for continued patience that is based more on logic and reasoning and less on faith. Hard to do, but easier than emulating Sheedy if you're worth your caper, and hence, if you take the Essendon job, you better be up for it.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

But I think that's kinda the problem - if the Essendon job is inherently more difficult than any other AFL coaching job because of the club's makeup, that's more the reason why we can't do anything more than the person in post being unfit for the role.

Maybe we should toy with making the job as difficult as any of the other 17 gigs first, which is already a herculean task in its own right, rather than putting people in a position where they not only have to coach a football side, they have also navigate AND manage disparate factions, including ones that inherently don't think the person should have the job because of where he played or whatever, or because there's a club legend out there who needs to have round 2 at the gig even though the incumbent is contracted.

I dont necessarily think Rutten is the answer but I'm starting to think we don't know anything about anybody who has coached the club under these (grossly unprofessional) circumstances.

 

[Eleven 38]

The whole Rutten issue is harder for me to take at the moment because Worsfold resigned, everyone knew he was leaving, we didn't have to sack a coach to go through a proper process to select a new one, now 2 years later we are deciding on whether we need a new coac, tp sack the coach and go through a proper process..