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

 

[Lore]

Dodoro has some spell over the players, even lloydy protects.

I like that Scott is a bit of an assassin. He's thrown a bit of shade there.

also, gotta love the excuse on Sheeds.
He was drunk. FMD.

I think Dodoro does have a kind of spell over them yeah. It’s like instead of being loyal to the club for giving them a chance and facilitating their dreams to play AFL, they seem to be loyal to Dodoro instead. And there are now 3-4 generations of footballers who have never known anything different.

I sort of wonder if Dodoro goes if there might be players and former players who won’t have anything to do with the club anymore as a result.

Like I feel like they’d be more acrimonious about Dodoro getting sacked than they were about the saga. And probably that leads to a board spill and a gamut of former players riding in on unicorns, fairy dust, and the blind votes of the ignorant, if not handled incredibly carefully

 

[andleanback]

Lloydy likes a contradiction
Development the issue not recruiting. Mcgrath is better than he's been

But then wright is doing better with us than at GCS.

I don’t think we developed wright we all, we just allowed him to play . Eventually if you give key forwards with talent some continuity, they’ll eventually break out. Hard to play when your the whipping boy of the coach and after a bad game your first to go. Also think wright loves playing under the roof at marvel compared to playing on the gc in humid conditions.

 

[citizen-erased]

I think Dodoro does have a kind of spell over them yeah. It’s like instead of being loyal to the club for giving them a chance and facilitating their dreams to play AFL, they seem to be loyal to Dodoro instead. And there are now 3-4 generations of footballers who have never known anything different.

I sort of wonder if Dodoro goes if there might be players and former players who won’t have anything to do with the club anymore as a result.

Like I feel like they’d be more acrimonious about Dodoro getting sacked than they were about the saga. And probably that leads to a board spill and a gamut of former players riding in on unicorns, fairy dust, and the blind votes of the ignorant, if not handled incredibly carefully

Here's my thing.
If vozzo, being the astute operator i hear he's supposed to be, acts on his GM of footballs recommendation to sack dodoro....what is going to happen?

The board and/or coteries revolt?
Im not sure they would. The club can't afford more controversy.

Ex-players and board challengers...have we ever had an external challenge infiltrate the board.
The only real concern would be a sheedy coup. So not without risk i guess

 

[Burzum]

Lloyd is embarrassing in his defensiveness and obvious bias in the Dudoro situation.

 

[Lore]

Lloydy likes a contradiction
Development the issue not recruiting. Mcgrath is better than he's been

But then wright is doing better with us than at GCS.

Puts up a list of first round draft picks and complains none of them have been AA…

Except that Parish did get AA in 2021, they forgot the asterisk on Caldwell, and most of the rest of them arrived in the last 5 minutes or have been injured as hell. That isn’t down to development

The only accurate target for complaint on that list really is Andy McGrath, and he did get 22under22 selection four years in a row and was captain of it in 2020. Pick 1 was always going to be underwhelming.

A poor team doesn’t really showcase its talent so there is that, but it’s not necessarily a development issue that we haven’t had AAs coming out our ears.

And AA is 80% bullshit anyway.

The development/recruiting issue is more about what you do in the second and third rounds than with a gimme pick in the top 10.

 

[citizen-erased]

I don’t think we developed wright we all, we just allowed him to play . Eventually if you give key forwards with talent some continuity, they’ll eventually break out. Hard to play when your the whipping boy of the coach and after a bad game your first to go. Also think wright loves playing under the roof at marvel compared to playing on the gc in humid conditions.

Im not one to deny development has been bad. It has been.

But to stick your head in the sand and say the recruitment hasnt been an issue is dumb.

 

[andleanback]

Puts up a list of first round draft picks and complains none of them have been AA…
View attachment 1635215
Except that Parish did get AA in 2021, they forgot the asterisk on Caldwell, and most of the rest of them arrived in the last 5 minutes or have been injured as hell. That isn’t down to development

The only accurate target for complaint on that list really is Andy McGrath, and he did get 22under22 selection four years in a row and was captain of it in 2020. Pick 1 was always going to be underwhelming. And he’s still more highly decorated than either McCluggage or Taranto.

A poor team doesn’t really showcase its talent so there is that, but it’s not necessarily a development issue that we haven’t had AAs coming out our ears.

And AA is 80% bullshit anyway.

The development/recruiting issue is more about what you do in the second and third rounds than with a gimme pick in the top 10.

Mccluggage has made like 3 or aa40s and taranto won a bnf in a team that made a gf. I’d argue they both have Mcgrath covered for achievements so far.

 

[citizen-erased]

Puts up a list of first round draft picks and complains none of them have been AA…
View attachment 1635215
Except that Parish did get AA in 2021, they forgot the asterisk on Caldwell, and most of the rest of them arrived in the last 5 minutes or have been injured as hell. That isn’t down to development

The only accurate target for complaint on that list really is Andy McGrath, and he did get 22under22 selection four years in a row and was captain of it in 2020. Pick 1 was always going to be underwhelming. And he’s still more highly decorated than either McCluggage or Taranto.

A poor team doesn’t really showcase its talent so there is that, but it’s not necessarily a development issue that we haven’t had AAs coming out our ears.

And AA is 80% bullshit anyway.

The development/recruiting issue is more about what you do in the second and third rounds than with a gimme pick in the top 10.

Lol
Setterfield was 2016 too. But that would point out the master dodoro probably should have bid on him or someone similar
I do wonder what Ch9 see in Lloyd for that show

 

[citizen-erased]

We taking bets on when the bomb goes off?

 

[andleanback]

Im not one to deny development has been bad. It has been.

But to stick your head in the sand and say the recruitment hasnt been an issue is dumb.

I’d say we’d had a 4 part issue for the past 15 years
1. Poor recruitment
2. Poor development
3. Poor list structure
4. Players on said list who arent overally professional and a playing group as a whole that have just been content of being in the afl system rather than striving for success.

 

[Lore]

Mccluggage has made like 3 or aa40s and taranto won a bnf in a team that made a gf. I’d argue they both have Mcgrath covered for achievements so far.

Should’ve played for a club that updates their Wikipedia pages for them then

 

[doug85]

Never thought I’d say this, but I think I agree with Cari and hutchy.

 

[citizen-erased]

Never thought I’d say this, but I think I agree with Cari and hutchy.

Robbo oddly quiet on us

Scott doing well
Players did good
His boy's shit stirring starting to cop heat.

 

[doug85]

Robbo oddly quiet on us

Scott doing well
Players did good
His boy's s**t stirring starting to cop heat.

I saw a thread on Twitter last week that completely debunked Robbos horseshit take about how no one talks down their clubs fortunes preseason except Essendon. Was a great takedown. I actually hate the way we get pumped up every preseason when we always sit somewhere between shit and average.

 

[ant555]

I’d say we’d had a 4 part issue for the past 15 years
1. Poor recruitment
2. Poor development
3. Poor list structure
4. Players on said list who arent overally professional and a playing group as a whole that have just been content of being in the afl system rather than striving for success.

Point 4 is worth more discussion. I have questions about how many we have had that are just happy to be playing AFL .
Same for the next level down at times. We have had VFL players who have just been happy to play VFL.

 

[Lore]

Robbo oddly quiet on us

Scott doing well
Players did good
His boy's s**t stirring starting to cop heat.

Caro mentioned that when she asked Dodoro for comment most of what he said was asking them to stop talking about him. So if Robbo is refusing to talk about him then he’s probably just doing what he’s told

 

[ghostdog]

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.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dodoro having to now report to Vozzo is simply a way of taking the personality clash with Mahoney out of the equation. Ie., with Mahoney still addressing his concerns with Vozzo who as CEO ostensibly plays the role of messenger, albeit now with the authority to put Dodoro back in his box.

That's what I hope anyway, otherwise what is the review worth? At least the fifth estate seems to be starting to exert some pressure to grease the wheels of change.

 

[Cup_o_Jobe]

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.

 

[frodos gardener]

It’s interesting to hear some say they agree with Caro. The way I see it, she agrees with us.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Caro and Hutchy spot on. Lloyd a total embarrassment

 

[HirdsTheWord]

i have zero loyalty to anyone anymore, including Hird or Sheedy.

i dont give a **** what you need to do to win games of footy. Just do it. If heads need to roll, than get on with it and roll them.

i doubt anyone on this forum has much more patience for Essendon club politics. its been almost 20 years ffs.

 

[citizen-erased]

Caro mentioned that when she asked Dodoro for comment most of what he said was asking them to stop talking about him. So if Robbo is refusing to talk about him then he’s probably just don’t what he’s told

The grand architect Dodoro

 

[Mercurial89]

Caro and Hutchy spot on. Lloyd a total embarrassment

Lloyd showing his colours a little there. He doesn't seem to have much of an issue with dodoro involved and Harvey who deals with coteries involved with match committee.

The fact Harvey is even close to those meetings is a disaster.

 

[Mercurial89]

i have zero loyalty to anyone anymore, including Hird or Sheedy.

i dont give a * what you need to do to win games of footy. Just do it. If heads need to roll, than get on with it and roll them.

i doubt anyone on this forum has much more patience for Essendon club politics. its been almost 20 years ffs.

I think loyalty is earned when through your service, work for the betterment of the club.
These individuals did for many years, they are great names.

What has occurred as it so often does is that individuals are now putting themselves before the club.
It starts as "oh I know what I'm doing" which is totally normal, if you have the ego and believe you can fix it that's natural.
That mindset however more and more becomes about shafting those who are brought in to help, it becomes about being done your way and only your way.
We are and have been at this point for awhile.

 

[Old Campaigner]

I think loyalty is earned when through your service, work for the betterment of the club.
These individuals did for many years, they are great names.

What has occurred as it so often does is that individuals are now putting themselves before the club.
It starts as "oh I know what I'm doing" which is totally normal, if you have the ego and believe you can fix it that's natural.
That mindset however more and more becomes about shafting those who are brought in to help, it becomes about being done your way and only your way.
We are and have been at this point for awhile.

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.