Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham - Statement from Barham addressing Merrett etc - 12/9

[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

    51

    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

  42

  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

    48

    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

    39

    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

 

[DERO]

i’ve been paying him out for ages, the ******* useless bellend.

I went back and read the royal commission findings: "I was not persuaded that NAB is willing to accept the necessary responsibility for deciding, for itself, what is the right thing to do, and then having its staff act accordingly."

 

[Howard Moon]

in the world of natural selection you get punished for your **** ups

Essendon probably need to get punished for this one - its the only way you learn, no?

 

[citizen-erased]

I told everyone we should have boarded up that coterie dinner and locked them all inside

This was a bad move from the moment it happened.
Perhaps a nice indicator to everyone that our issues stem from within and we should stop looking there for solutions

 

[yodellinhank]

Like Thorburn did?

I don't think we'd have to pay out a club president, though this is Essendon so we'd probably find a way.

 

[yodellinhank]

I’d say that Essendon would have a better chance. But I’m not sure his church is deemed a terrorist organisation in this country, nor have they been involved in beatings, or as you point out, lynchings.

That we know of.

 

[Nifft]

Barham needs to re-sign.

How many years do you think?

 

[Don Won]

That we know of.

True, and if they can gather enough evidence before the trial I think their odds of winning go up to 50/50 .

To be fair, I have no idea what the contract he signed was, nor the conversations before his resignation, but you'd expect that Essendon would have been at the mercy of Thornburn if they have sacked him in those circumstances. My thinking is that Essendon weighed the cost and decided that whatever it was, it would be worth it.

 

[yodellinhank]

How many years do you think?

1980-89, when this sort of ham fisted approach was all the rage.

 

[BrunoV]

Truth Social is where the best thinkers congregate imho

Wouldn't know

 

[Cup_o_Jobe]

The case hasn't got a hope in hell, but it ought bring back into focus what remains a bewildering failure of basic due diligence. How the Board appointed someone without knowing they were the chair of such a fringe organization is mind-boggling. Still needs to be an accounting for that failure within the EFC sphere.

 

[Beerfish]

The case hasn't got a hope in hell, but it ought bring back into focus what remains a bewildering failure of basic due diligence. How the Board appointed someone without knowing they were the chair of such a fringe organization is mind-boggling. Still needs to be an accounting for that failure within the EFC sphere.

I wouldn't presume to know whether it has a hope in hell or not but agree 100% with the rest of it. The whole episode could not have been more amateurish and the club probably deserves it.

 

[Saint]

Essendon Defence:

During the appointment, Thorburn said he'd left behind his deceptive conduct at NAB as outlined in the Royal Commission. We took him at his word.

But then, it turned out, he was still a hypocritical d*ck and was leading a bigoted church while telling us that he could be an inclusive leader at our club. The man doesn't know how not to be a hypocritical liar. We gave him the option of giving up the hypocrisy and he refused. We can't have a proven liar who refuses to reform his lying ways as the CEO of this organisation.

 

[Doss]

Wouldn't know

 

[Dave]

Tolerance and freedom of speech only matters if you are tolerant of views you don't agree with. Everyone is tolerant of views they agree with. And being tolerant of different views does not mean endorsement of those views, which is something too many people don't understand.

Ironic considering religion's track record on this.

 

[Vander18]

in the world of natural selection you get punished for your * ups

Essendon probably need to get punished for this one - its the only way you learn, no?

I suspect you are correct.

 

[Atavistic]

This poor guy is probably down to his last 20 mill and needs our help. How can we refuse him?

 

[Beerfish]

This poor guy is probably down to his last 20 mill and needs our help. How can we refuse him?

Club deserves it though.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Don't we get a 30 day cooling off period?

 

[FlyingV]

Don't we get a 30 day cooling off period?

probably claiming it’s unlawful termination due to discrimination of a protected attribute. Cool off period/probation etc won’t cover that bad boy.

 

[Zach Package]

I’d settle this quickly and also pay a private detective to dig up more dirt on him and air it publicly so we can win the PR war as well.

**** him

 

[TheGrizz]

I’d settle this quickly and also pay a private detective to dig up more dirt on him and air it publicly so we can win the PR war as well.

**** him

Nah, the longer this plays out, the more everyone loses.

If we settle, everyone signs an NDA and we move on.

 

[Zach Package]

Nah, the longer this plays out, the more everyone loses.

If we settle, everyone signs an NDA and we move on.

Was clearly in jest, mostly.

We’re not Newscorp

 

[fairbump_playon]

We really should have made more inquiries before we nabbed Thorburn

 

[Kong]

We really should have made more inquiries before we nabbed Thorburn

Yeah I would’ve thought he’d Burned his corporate bridges.

 

[boncer34]

It's the religious way.

I'm seriously done with this club if they give this a-hole a single cent.

Bet you aren't.