Opinion Get Clarko to The Hangar - 5 year deal done says Heppellfreak (post #334) - now with poll

[creepyguy23]

Just look at our under 25 players. They are bursting at the seams with raw talent - this is something even the biggest Essendon haters admit.
Surely we ask the question to Clarko, it would be stupid not to.
Could you imagine Perkins, Hobbs, Martin, Cox, Jones, Reid, Caldwell, Ridley & the rest being coached by the great Alaistair Clarkson? That would be absolutely sensational!
It would toughen them up and prime them for glory.
Several weeks ago on AFL 360 Clarko mentioned he would be open to the idea of coaching again if he was to have a red hot shot at success. This is a golden opportunity as I believe we fit the bill well.

 

[crackers65]

Do we know that they haven’t spoken to him yet?

 

[Shanghaistu]

Might be a dream gig - potential talent coming through and literally absolutely no way to do worse than the incumbent administration. But would Clarke accept playing being saddled with incompetent hacks like Dodo, XC, our board and our fitness department?

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Hawks didn’t think so

 

[JayJ20]

We all said the same thing when Hird came, then when Bomber came, then when Worsfold came, then when Caracella came. They brought all the past Essendon players back yesterday and it did absolutely nothing. When will this circus end? How about Rutten stays and we start looking at the people that have been there the whole time? Neither Hardwick nor Goodwin built a premiership side in one year. It takes a LOT longer to turn around a club with a systemic losing culture.

I'm starting to get worried they'll actually chase Clarkson to mitigate the big expected drop offs in membership and attendances next year. It'll just be another financial decision rather than following a process with due diligence. I'll just about give up if Clarkson coaches Essendon next year. This club clearly needs memberships and attendances to drop off so that the right people are held accountable.

 

[Call Me Cake]

A real sliding doors moment in the history of the club.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

I promise OP is not my alt.

But I'm down with the mission.

 

[BrunoV]

The strange thing about the industry is that everyone seems to be coming up with reasons not to sign a guy who has a claim to being the best coach of the last 50 years and who, in his early to mid 50s, has more than enough time on his side.

We confuse inertia at board level and largely arse covering calls as being responsible calls for stability.

Without having lost faith in Rutten, he is an unknown and I struggle to believe he has the authority to move the club in the right direction. It shouldn't be necessary but coaching Essendon like Carlton is an on and off field task. Even Worsfold didn't have the authority. Clarkson has the authority, obviously.

Our problem, though, is this idiotic premiership contention in 2-3 years anchor we've strapped ourselves to. That doesn't give Clarkson the time off Broadway to develop the list. It's not a foregone conclusion but it is exactly how we bury Clarkson just as Carlton buried Pagan and Malthouse.

Given that we are 10 games into the career of 1 of the 3 or 4 mids we need, 4 games into the career of 1 of the 3 or 4 small forwards we need (with 2 of them even on the list), the tall defenders are raw and could require another 2 to 3 years, the key forwards posts are solid but not the spectacular that could catapult a rebuild and our 2 best midfiders do very little of what a good side actually needs there are a number of reasons this could take time.

It is getting increasingly difficult to see how we come good without someone how has the authority to run the show.

 

[Nifft]

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Don’t want him. He’s got the halo at the moment but he’s had his time for mine. He wasn’t good for the Hawks for the last few years, which is why they got rid of him. Also, with the current cap rules it would leave us short a coach or two because of the huge salary he’d demand. We’re a young side and that’s not what we want (another reason Hawthorn got rid of him).

I’m not convinced Rutten is the wrong man, we were pretty happy with him just a few months ago. Rebuilds are hard and you have s**t years, it doesn’t happen in a linear fashion.

 

[sameolds33]

Don’t want him. He’s got the halo at the moment but he’s had his time for mine. He wasn’t good for the Hawks for the last few years, which is why they got rid of him. Also, with the current cap rules it would leave us short a coach or two because of the huge salary he’d demand. We’re a young side and that’s not what we want (another reason Hawthorn got rid of him).

I’m not convinced Rutten is the wrong man, we were pretty happy with him just a few months ago. Rebuilds are hard and you have s**t years, it doesn’t happen in a linear fashion.

Agree. He's a good game day coach. But he's not the messiah. He did say on 360 that the playing list was not the most important thing for him to take on a new coaching gig, it was the administrative structure and finances. If we 're going with youth then let's back the young coach in. I don't think Clarkson's the answer to our current issues.

 

[bomberlegend2007]

You would make a call and if he says no, then you hunker down and give Rutten two more years.

 

[windyhill]

I would give Barry Davis another go.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

 

[andleanback]

Don’t want him. He’s got the halo at the moment but he’s had his time for mine. He wasn’t good for the Hawks for the last few years, which is why they got rid of him. Also, with the current cap rules it would leave us short a coach or two because of the huge salary he’d demand. We’re a young side and that’s not what we want (another reason Hawthorn got rid of him).

I’m not convinced Rutten is the wrong man, we were pretty happy with him just a few months ago. Rebuilds are hard and you have s**t years, it doesn’t happen in a linear fashion.

Yeah because their list was on the downturn. He still easily the best coach going around, but at same time you wouldn’t let him have full control over list management. That was hawthorns mistake from 16-19.

 

[citizen-erased]

RoCo is starting to symbolise the very issues he rails against at the club.
Expected, instant success by throwing money at it.

Silver bullets don't work

 

[ant555]

My view is you make the call and if he is interested you go with it but it will still take 3 or 4 more years to build a side that can win a final a few years in a row but the winning a GF may well be 5 /10/15/who knows how many years away with any coach.

 

[ant555]

Yeah because their list was on the downturn. He still easily the best coach going around, but at same time you wouldn’t let him have full control over list management. That was hawthorns mistake from 16-19.

What you say is true. He overruled the list management trading for O,Meara and Mitchell etc when he should have been rebuilding and it has set them back 3 years but he is still a good coach. He can sell the message.

 

[CBombers17]

The flag in 2 or 3 seasons prediction crap is an absolute indictment on the clubs leadership. This club should be building for decades of success through a total overhaul of the football program from top to bottom.

We should have the best coach and team available to build a finals winning list and let the premierships take care of themselves. We need to be winning games of football with a brand that stands up in finals. This goal should be central to everything at Essendon. And Clarkson, Rutten or whoever is the best coach for this first step needs to be at the helm- a decision that our current leadership simply can't be trusted to make.

 

[eth-dog]

Pass

 

[Foxx]

Clarkson to Essendon would be low risk/high reward.
I think he'd love the challenge to turn Essendon around like he did Hawthorn. Those two fiercest rivals. What a great legacy to leave.

Essendon will have a group of about 20 kids under 22 at the end of this year.
It would be a Voss to Carlton scenario.

Essendon have a losing cultural problem.
Clarkson would end that the first day he stepped on the training track. And probably just by his mere presence.

 

[thepokey]

Honestly I think if we did land Clarkson I'd probably like part of the deal be that he conducts, or is at least involved in, an external review first. I'd still call it external because he would be coming from the outside. He gets to help shape the club in a way he thinks will set it up for the next tilt. Be a good chance to start building relationships as he goes and identify the people and processes he can't work with early on.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

RoCo is starting to symbolise the very issues he rails against at the club.
Expected, instant success by throwing money at it.

Silver bullets don't work

When it comes to his footy club he’s an idiot, like the vast majority of us fans.

 

[citizen-erased]

When it comes to his footy club he’s an idiot, like the vast majority of us fans.

Normally ive been a fan. He and niall i find generally reasonable but of late.....i think we've broken him

 

[The Prosecutor]

I'd get him in to form part of an external review panel.

Would be hesitant to give him a coaching role.