Essendon: Coaching turmoil, board upheaval and 11th hour bid for Alastair Clarkson

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A week after their president stood aside, and a failed attempt to snatch Alastair Clarkson from North Melbourne’s grasp, Essendon are officially on the lookout for a new coach after they parted ways with Ben Rutten. Now that search includes a CEO.

To recap, here’s what we know.

Rutten gone

As soon as the full-time siren sounded to end Essendon’s 66-point thrashing from Richmond, it was almost inevitable that Sunday’s board meeting would result in Ben Rutten’s sacking .

Newly-anointed president David Barham phoned Rutten to tell him his contract had been terminated before calling captain Dyson Heppell, vice-captain Zach Merrett and deputy vice-captain Andy McGrath.

After the club’s one-week mad dash to secure Alastair Clarkson, the Bombers are desperate for a replacement to turn round the club’s fortunes finishing the regular season 15th.

Ken Hinkley and James Hird appear to be prime targets.

In the wake of Rutten’s sacking, CODE Sports’ Daniel Cherny examined how optics over substance caught up with the once great AFL club.

Bloodletting continues

Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell became the latest Essendon figure to confirm his departure on Wednesday during what is now a fortnight of utter turmoil for the embattled club.

“It’s been a difficult nine years and I think the time is right to hand it over to someone else,” the outgoing Campbell said.

That is not the end of it though. Four more Bomber figures have quit various positions including board members Peter Allen, club great ruckman Simon Madden, former president (just a week ago) Paul Brasher and football director Sean Wellman all on the way out.

Clarkson chooses North

An 11th hour bid to snare the greatest AFL coach of the modern era – which began with a change of president on Monday – came to an abrupt end on Friday morning, when Clarkson agreed to a five-year deal at North Melbourne, where he played for eight years.

From turmoil, Essendon has moved to a full-blown crisis, one could say, if it wasn’t already.

It leaves Ben Rutten in the unenviable position of being an unwanted coach who is still under contract with no one to replace him preparing for what he thinks might be his final match, but doesn’t know.

But with every passing moment his future appears to become more and more untenable.

The future of Rutten and CEO Xavier Campbell will be discussed at a board meeting on Sunday following Saturday night against Richmond.

Rutten has one year remaining on his contract with all of this hanging over his head.

Reports had linked Ken Hinkley with North Melbourne, if Clarkson knocked back the Kangaroos at the final hour, but such claims were strongly refuted by the Port Adelaide head coach throughout the week.

Clarkson texted Hinkley before arriving in Adelaide this week, a gesture the Power senior coach appreciated.

“It was good of Clarko because he knows what’s going on in the footy landscape very well and he’s an incredibly successful coach, but also incredibly respectful and I think he probably understood what might happen when he landed in Adelaide,” Hinkley said.

Clarkson’s decision continues a saga which went into overdrive on Monday.

What happened Monday?

CODE Sports’ Daniel Cherny broke the news on Monday that Essendon president Paul Brasher was set to resign, and a few hours later that is exactly what happened.

His position was filled by TV and media guru David Barham, widely regarded as the mastermind behind the 10 network’s fruitful run with the Big Bash League.

‘Paul Brasher, who publicly and ferociously supported Rutten and chief executive Xavier Campbell this season, was on the wrong side of a coup d’état on Monday,’ wrote News Corp’s Mark Robinson this week.

A media frenzy ensued as speculation went into overdrive about Essendon’s pursuit of Clarkson, with the Bombers joining North Melbourne and the GWS Giants in the race for his services.

CEO Xavier Campbell, who himself is under pressure, denied having spoken to Clarkson on Monday.

At this point, the Kangaroos had already offered Clarkson a contract, late last week, and he had been interviewed by GWS. And an external review had been launched by Barham to follow the internal review conducted mid-season.

CODE Sports’ Daniel Cherny took a closer look at the machinations of such probes at that time.

Barham and Rutten fronted the media on Friday morning. The new Essendon president admitted it was an error to keep Rutten in the dark about the Clarkson approach, but indicated the matter required urgency given Clarkson’s stature.

Could James Hird return?

Mark Robinson reported on Friday that the man at the centre of the Essendon supplements saga a decade ago could re-emerge at the club, where he starred for 16 seasons, winning two premierships.

Hird, 49, sensationally quit as coach of the Bombers in 2015 after serving a 12-month suspension imposed on him by the AFL because of that infamous supplement saga.

He has been currently serving as a consultant and assistant to former Bomber teammate Mark McVeigh at GWS.

Where to for Ben Rutten?

Essendon coach Rutten survived Monday’s bedlam but, as is now widely apparent, his coaching future is under an immense cloud.

Things have gone from bad to worse since an embarrassing 84-point loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday. None of which is his own making.

As of Wednesday, it was reported Rutten’s dismissal was imminent. The only assurance was he would coach Essendon in their final match of 2022 against Richmond, Saturday night.

Essendon vice-captain Zach Merrett revealed a “strong and courageous” Rutten brought up the “elephant in the room” with the players on Tuesday.

Rutten’s manager, and former Bomber, Adam Ramanauskas also shared his thoughts on Melbourne radio.

“I think it’s been really disappointing. You’ve got to look at the human side … the way he’s been treated is fundamentally not right,” Ramanauskas said.

“…. It’s fair to say Monday and half of Tuesday were pretty difficult days because nobody was telling him what was going on.”

How did it come to this?

Rutten’s position has been under question throughout the season with the Bombers wallowing in the bottom three for much of it.

Just North Melbourne and West Coast sat below them up until recently.

Question marks were raised mid-season with just two wins by mid-June. It was around that time that Clarkson’s name had been mentioned in dispatches.

But a turnaround in form for the Bombers winning five of their next seven and Rutten had the backing of the board. That was until the past two weeks; a poor loss to GWS followed by Sunday’s debacle.

CODE Sports’ Shannon Gill trawled the numbers and detailed how bad Essendon’s season has been.

On Thursday, Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was the loudest voice publicly slamming Essendon’s treatment of former Adelaide teammate Rutten.

Bombers v Kangaroos

The GWS Giants exited the race for Clarkson’s services on Tuesday, leaving the Bombers and Kangaroos as the final two contenders.

It’s been nearly two decades since Essendon has won a final, extraordinary for a football club with the most premierships in VFL/AFL history with 16, tied with Carlton.

Anchored to the bottom of the ladder for the past three seasons, North are holding out for a messiah after sacking their coach David Noble mid-season. And they got their man.

Former Kangaroo and interim coach Leigh Adams will coach the Roos one last time against Gold Coast on Saturday.

The North bond goes a long way back for Clarkson through the one and only John Kennedy senior, who died aged 91 in 2020.

Clarkson started his playing career with the Kangaroos under Kennedy in 1987, playing 93 games for the club before shifting to the Demons where he would finish his career with a further 41.

It is believed Clarkson would be paid about $1.1 million a year at his next club and his close mate, former Hawthorn premiership assistant coach Todd Viney, would be his right-hand man. We wait and see.

The contest had pitched two old cricket foes once more.

North Melbourne chief executive Ben Amarfio and newly appointed Essendon president David Barham famously squared off over Cricket Australia’s last broadcast rights deal.

Adding some context, Amarfio was in charge of media rights at Cricket Australia and Barham was Channel 10’s head of sport, when the rights changed hands to Foxtel and Channel 7 as part of a billion-dollar TV deal in 2018.

Ironically, it could be said Amarfio won this war also. While the monetary value involved was not as high, the stakes were as big as they come in AFL.

Where has Clarko been?

Since departing Hawthorn late last year, 54-year-old Clarkson has been enjoying a year off from coaching. In his time off he has ventured to the USA to further his professional development.

By May, eight clubs had reportedly inquired about his services.

This week Clarkson was in Adelaide for personal reasons, but a link was still made to Ken Hinkley.

That led to more speculation that the Port Adelaide coach could be North Melbourne’s Plan B if Clarkson went to the Bombers.

That was refuted as Hinkley reiterated his commitment to Port on Thursday.

Anyone but the Bombers, Clarko

Clarkson’s four flags with Hawthorn (2008, 2013, 2014, 2015) – the bitter arch enemies of Essendon – led many to question during the week how on earth he could even contemplate the idea of coaching the Bombers.

Such a move would have stunned Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton, particularly given the disdain Clarkson held for the club while at the helm with Hawthorn, highlighted by his dismay at the 2012 supplements saga.

Clarkson said then: “We need to ensure it (the Essendon supplements scandal) never happens in our game again … what have coaches learned about their obligations and responsibilities to young men.

Fellow Hawthorn premiership player Campbell Brown went one step further, “I will sever my relationship with Alastair Clarkson if he goes to Essendon,” he joked on his own podcast.

Essendon receive unwanted answer

North Melbourne and Essendon expected an answer to the question that has the footy world transfixed by the weekend. The Kangaroos got one on Friday to their delight.

“We are pretty confident we will know something by the end of the weekend and we are really happy with the way things are going,” North Melbourne president Sonja Hood told the Seven Network on Wednesday night.

The Kangaroos are said to have been in talks with Clarkson for a month and Kangaroos’ legend Wayne Carey tipped the four-time premiership coach would stick to his principles.

“I’d be very surprised knowing Clarko – knowing the way he conducts himself – I’d be very surprised if he did a backflip,” Carey said on Melbourne radio on Wednesday.

Sheedy said what?

In a stunning turn on Wednesday night, four-time premiership winning coach with Essendon – now board member – the legendary Kevin Sheedy, declared on Adelaide radio that Clarkson would be perfect for North Melbourne to “take ‘em down to Tasmania.”

Comments which have already been met with dismay by those at North Melbourne.

‘Embarrassing circus’

Clarkson vented his frustrations at the whole “circus” when speaking with Channel 10, on Thursday at Adelaide Airport. 

“I’d prefer to be able to get off the back page and I know full well that this circus will end once I can make a decision one way or another,” Clarkson said.

“So the sooner I can do that the better.” The very next morning he did.

Clarkson said he wanted to make the call quickly to limit the stress for the other people involved, in particular Rutten. Whether the stress has been relieved is another question.

Retiring Bomber Michael Hurley, overcoming debilitating injuries for a farewell match against Richmond this weekend, on Thursday spoke of his frustration at the saga surrounding the Essendon head coaching position, sending a message to the club hierarchy.

“I just hope that there can be a stable base and an opportunity that these young guys coming through (to) get the stability and get a really settled club and give them every opportunity to go forward and get some success that I really hope they can get,” Hurley said.

A player’s perspective

CODE Sports’ Will Schofield gave his take on the mess that is Essendon at present providing a perspective of someone who has been inside the four walls of a footy club.

“Current coach Ben Rutten, who has been treated with absolute disrespect and disdain by the club, is meant to front up this weekend and pretend his job and livelihood haven’t been shopped around for the past fortnight,” Will said.

“Did I hear James Hird’s name being thrown around as the next coach? May as well see what Kevin Sheedy is up to, maybe he wants to step out of retirement?”

But although the players could be excused for thinking beyond this Saturday against Richmond, there was still plenty at stake.

Some good news

CODE Sports’ Daniel Cherny reports that along with Collingwood, Essendon has received special dispensation from the AFL to keep a Category B rookie on their rookie list for a season beyond the usual limits.

Irish player Cian McBride has permission to stay with the Bombers on the proviso that he must go through the national draft.

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