Lord Nicholson
El Supremo
10k Posts
Essendon Player Sponsor 2019 - Orazio Fantasia, Anthony McDonald Tipungwuti, Shaun McKernan
Essendon Player Sponsor 2018 - Colyer, Fantasia, McDonald-Tipungwuti and McKernan
A Star Wars Fan
Essendon Player Sponsor 2017
Essendon Player Sponsor 2016
Essendon Player Sponsor 2014
Essendon Player Sponsor 2013
- May 30, 2011
- 13,891
- 19,885
- AFL Club
- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle
As Glenn Ridge might have offered in the past. Today we have facilitated breaking an 118 year old record for our opposition, historically the worst club in the whole competition, in a game that was meant in part to commemorate the 50th anniversary of our 1965 premiership win. As a result we can now pool our carry-over points of ineptitude gathered from the Peter Jackson trophy-polishing phase and use them to unlock the very special "Jungle Drums Round".
I'm not interested discussing the failings or mythical strengths of James Hird as a senior coach in this thread, there's a whole other thread dedicated to that, but with the sequence of performances dished up, combined with the fact that this is his 4th year, the need to move on as a club from this tenure is a fait accompli as far as I'm concerned. There are elements of his narrative that are unfair - so be it. Football continues, and the club must endure. The future lies elsewhere.
There are a multitude of options out there of course, and the right choice might be 2 out of a possible 20. Two selection criteria for me are vital: This person must have premiership experience as a coach. Hird didn't, Knights didn't, but the fella before them did. The second is that this person should not be an Essendon person - we need to be businesslike about this, we need to throw out this insanely old school concept of keeping things in house and that only an Essendon person will understand the club. Knights is held up as an example of the outsider who couldn't get in - this is an unfair example, for the simple fact that he was a bell end. There are sane, charismatic, and talented people out there who have never had anything to do with the Essendon football club that would be ideal for the senior coaching position that on current form, needs to be vacated after the final H&A round of this season.
Stuart Dew
Will keep the caterers busy after the massive void created by Jay Neagle, but this can be managed. By all "reports" (and you can take them or leave them) he's blitzing this coaching course they've cooked up, Paul Roos burned bridges to try and snare him, he was an assistant to Longmire in 2012 and while you might argue that premiership is chalked up to the COLA wars, it's hard to deny that the club just plain did things right from top to bottom, and got the most out of dubious entities like Pyke and Morton. As a football nomad he's also seen success at PAFC and HFC in wildly differing scenarios. It is safe to say he has a good understanding of a what a good football club looks like in different incarnations.
Brendan Bolton
Has overcome his Tasmanianness by having the second head surgically removed at some point. Will be able to dodge questions about supplements regime with a mix of foolhardy optimism and not being able to reach the mic. Ultimately he was the first pick to be caretaker for Clarkson in what was ultimately a premiership year - this is significant. He's the heir apparent of course but this was a scenario where the senior coach would be coming back, and they could just as easily have gone with someone like Ratten who was already exposed to the rigours and scrutiny of being a senior coach. Instead they gave Bolton a free audition which it is safe to say he passed with flying colours - it's always questionable when someone didn't play at the senior level, so that's a demerit point, but it's hard to deny the CV of anyone at HFC in 13/14.
Simon Lloyd
Not a premiership assistant yet so it would be predicated on what happens in the later parts of the year, but another well credentialed assistant and I have a sneaking suspicion he has a good contact at the club with a bit of clout. Also well-traveled in the football world having worked at Hawthorn and Collingwood.
Those are just some very basic contenders, there are of course a ton out there so I open the floor to the question - if Hird is out on his arse at the end of the year, who would you want in the senior role? And no, this isn't a thread about how we're becoming Richmond supporters - there's plenty of other opportunities for that.
I'm not interested discussing the failings or mythical strengths of James Hird as a senior coach in this thread, there's a whole other thread dedicated to that, but with the sequence of performances dished up, combined with the fact that this is his 4th year, the need to move on as a club from this tenure is a fait accompli as far as I'm concerned. There are elements of his narrative that are unfair - so be it. Football continues, and the club must endure. The future lies elsewhere.
There are a multitude of options out there of course, and the right choice might be 2 out of a possible 20. Two selection criteria for me are vital: This person must have premiership experience as a coach. Hird didn't, Knights didn't, but the fella before them did. The second is that this person should not be an Essendon person - we need to be businesslike about this, we need to throw out this insanely old school concept of keeping things in house and that only an Essendon person will understand the club. Knights is held up as an example of the outsider who couldn't get in - this is an unfair example, for the simple fact that he was a bell end. There are sane, charismatic, and talented people out there who have never had anything to do with the Essendon football club that would be ideal for the senior coaching position that on current form, needs to be vacated after the final H&A round of this season.
Stuart Dew
Will keep the caterers busy after the massive void created by Jay Neagle, but this can be managed. By all "reports" (and you can take them or leave them) he's blitzing this coaching course they've cooked up, Paul Roos burned bridges to try and snare him, he was an assistant to Longmire in 2012 and while you might argue that premiership is chalked up to the COLA wars, it's hard to deny that the club just plain did things right from top to bottom, and got the most out of dubious entities like Pyke and Morton. As a football nomad he's also seen success at PAFC and HFC in wildly differing scenarios. It is safe to say he has a good understanding of a what a good football club looks like in different incarnations.
Brendan Bolton
Has overcome his Tasmanianness by having the second head surgically removed at some point. Will be able to dodge questions about supplements regime with a mix of foolhardy optimism and not being able to reach the mic. Ultimately he was the first pick to be caretaker for Clarkson in what was ultimately a premiership year - this is significant. He's the heir apparent of course but this was a scenario where the senior coach would be coming back, and they could just as easily have gone with someone like Ratten who was already exposed to the rigours and scrutiny of being a senior coach. Instead they gave Bolton a free audition which it is safe to say he passed with flying colours - it's always questionable when someone didn't play at the senior level, so that's a demerit point, but it's hard to deny the CV of anyone at HFC in 13/14.
Simon Lloyd
Not a premiership assistant yet so it would be predicated on what happens in the later parts of the year, but another well credentialed assistant and I have a sneaking suspicion he has a good contact at the club with a bit of clout. Also well-traveled in the football world having worked at Hawthorn and Collingwood.
Those are just some very basic contenders, there are of course a ton out there so I open the floor to the question - if Hird is out on his arse at the end of the year, who would you want in the senior role? And no, this isn't a thread about how we're becoming Richmond supporters - there's plenty of other opportunities for that.
Last edited:
