Schofield: Why Essendon’s last game of the season still counts for coach and players

Top four, top eight, wooden spoon, contracts, coaching positions being assessed, young guys getting opportunities, farewells and goodbyes to retiring legends. Mad Monday and footy trips being planned for those outside the eight, injury maintenance and body condition coming into finals.

Oh yeah – and winning and losing.

There are no dead rubbers. There is always something at stake for somebody.

Just imagine rocking up for this weekend’s game as a member of the Essendon football club. Internally they would be absolutely shattered – on all levels.

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.

Players, some of whom would be incredibly loyal to Rutten, will be filthy at the club. Others who wanted a fresh start need to now reassess where their allegiances lie.

And there’s the fans.

They would have had a gutful with everything going on. A big Victorian club, huge supporter base, who haven’t seen a finals win since 2004. Crying out for direction and a clear path to success. Windy Hill will be rioting if the club doesn’t sort out this mess soon.

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?

It will have been a lot emotionally to deal with as players. The head coach can sometimes act as a father figure. Having him almost forcibly removed and then still remain in the job will have a big impact on them. The way the group plays this weekend will say a lot about their mindset internally.

Honestly, I don’t think you could blame them if it’s toes up and they lose by 100 points. They have absolutely no clarity, are a complete rabble, they lost by 84 points to Port Adelaide last week.

How much to Richmond to finish the year? They’ll just want this season in the bin and be picking out their costumes for Mad Monday.

I’ve played in dead rubbers before, with seemingly nothing on the line from a win-loss point of view. But how you play and how you handle yourself as a player in the last few weeks of a season counts. At least it did for me.

At the end of my third season, 2009, things weren’t looking good for my football career. I didn’t have a contract and there weren’t many spots left on the list. After playing nine games in my second season, I’d managed only three games at senior level in the last year of my contract.

The club wasn’t making finals, we finished 11th that season and there wasn’t much on the line for a lot of guys.

But my whole career was on the line.

As a player in that situation, it’s difficult to get a straight answer on your future. Clubs have a lot of moving pieces and securing the services of a 15-game skinny utility isn’t near the top of the list.

I’ll never forget a meeting I had with senior assistant coach at the time Peter Sumich. I wanted answers and to his credit, he gave them to me. I wanted to know if I would be at the club the following season. Was there a contract up for grabs?

He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Schoey, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but there is probably one spot on the list remaining.

“The spot is between you and Jamie McNamara, you both have a game to finish off the season. You’re effectively playing for your career.”

Talk about pressure.

I loved the honesty from Suma. It was all I ever wanted as a player. The most frustrating times I had as a player was when a coach wasn’t honest with me or couldn’t give me clarity.

I’m sure there was a lot more that went into the list decision than how I played in the final game of 2009, but it felt like my entire livelihood was on the line.

McNamara, one of my good mates – we were drafted together in 2007, played AFL in the last round. I played WAFL. He was a midfielder, I was a jack-of-all-trades.

I played one of the best games of my career, had 25 touches and kicked a goal for Peel Thunder in the WAFL. McNamara had 17 touches in an 80-point victory against the Tigers at Subiaco Oval.

I got a two-year contract three days later. McNamara was delisted.

It’s just one example of what the last game of the year means to players. It’s a brutal industry and stops for nobody.

When you are watching the games this weekend, stop and think about what could be on the line for some of the players out there. Or the coaches in the box. Or the fans in the stand.