AFL coach updates: Unlikely prospect Ben Rutten could coach Essendon next season as Alastair Clarkson opens up on ‘embarrassing circus’
Essendon has been slammed for the way the club has treated coach Ben Rutten. His situation is seen as untenable... but is it, really?
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Ben Rutten will coach Essendon in Saturday night’s clash against Richmond despite the club’s brazen attempt to secure Alastair Clarkson as his replacement.
Clarkson will make a call on his new club by the end of the weekend after meeting with Bombers’ powerbrokers this week, following a full month of talks with the Kangaroos about their vacancy.
The Bombers are prepared to ruthlessly cast aside Rutten for Clarkson, but will give their current senior coach one more opportunity to lead the team into battle against the Tigers at the MCG.
Essendon has been smashed this week for its disrespectful handling of Rutten, who has one year remaining on his contract and faces a payout of up to $600,000 if he is sacked for Clarkson.
While Rutten’s situation is largely seen as untenable, there remains the prospect Essendon could ask him to continue to coach the club next year if it fails to land Clarkson over the next 48 hours.
The Bombers expect him to coach on Saturday night baring a last-minute change of heart from Rutten.
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Clarkson said he wanted to make the call quickly to limit the stress for the other people involved, in particular Rutten.
“It’s quite embarrassing to be fair to be quite the central figure in all this,” Clarkson told Channel 10.
“You know, I’ve got enormous respect for the three guys involved in their clubs, you know ‘Spike’ (Mark) McVeigh, ‘Truck’ Rutten and ‘Patch’ (Leigh) Adams are all terrific people and they’re trying to do the right things by their clubs.
“In particular with the situation around Truck, you know he’s still got a year of his contract to run and it’s quite embarrassing being the centre of attention in a situation. It’s just so difficult for both him and his club.
“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.
“So the sooner I can do that the better.”
Essendon is expected to match North Melbourne’s five-year offer. Clarkson will be paid in the vicinity of $1.1 million at his new club in his first season.
Rutten is expected to front the press on Friday about the extraordinary events this week including a frank meeting with new club chairman David Barham at his home in Mount Macedon on Wednesday.
The Kangaroos are yet to strongly consider Plan B options if they miss Clarkson, but Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley on Thursday ruled himself out of the mix, saying he would stay at the Power in 2023.
The Bombers produced one of their worst performances of recent times against Port Adelaide on Sunday, but will attempt to bounce back strongly for Michael Hurley’s farewell game.
Hurley, 32, on Thursday made an impassioned appeal to the club’s hierarchy to deliver stability for the Bombers’ next generation of players as he hailed the character of Rutten.
“I can’t speak for the whole playing group, but for me there is an element of frustration,” Hurley said.
“I know throughout my career I have craved a bit of stability and a settled footy club and unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be that way at the moment.
“I just hope that it can work itself out and these younger guys coming through can get that stability that I craved throughout my career.”
Asked what his message to the club’s hierarchy would be, Hurley said:
“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,” he said.
“It (stability) just gives you every opportunity to achieve what you want to achieve. When things aren’t settled and there are moving pieces and moving parts and instability, it makes things really difficult.
“It’s a very hard game and if you make it harder for yourselves then what hope have you got?”
Since Hurley arrived at the club in the 2008 draft, Essendon has been through five senior coaches and two caretakers in that time.
Hurley said it was “sad” what Rutten had been forced to face this week, but praised his ongoing commitment to the playing group.
The Essendon stalwart’s comments came as Rutten’s former teammate and Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin also lashed the Bombers over Rutten’s treatment.
“I think it has just shown the character of ‘Truck’. He has come in and he has worn the media, he has always put the players first,” Hurley said.
“I think it is easy for people to just see him as a senior coach and forget that he is a father, a husband and a mate to all of us.
“It has been a bit sad the way he has had to wear this. It’s been hard for the players and I have felt for him, but again, it just shows the character of him.
“He has come in, chest out, working for us to try and give us the best environment he can to win football games and I am proud of the way he has handled himself.”
Hurley said there had been little dialogue with the playing group over the coaching situation.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of communication just yet,” Hurley said.
“But I would expect that the players would get some dialogue at some point and there’s some open discussions so we can get our point across and they can feedback what they’re thinking.”
Former Essendon premiership captain Ken Fraser spoke with Rutten briefly at training on Thursday after giving a longstanding staff member a gift, including a handwritten letter.
Roos boss confident on Clarko as mate backs dignified Truck
—Will Hogan, Jay Clark, Mark Robinson, Nick Smart, Will Gould and Tayla Couacaud
Premiership-winning Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has given the Essendon hierarchy a serve for the lack of respect shown to his former teammate Ben Rutten this week as the Bombers circle Alastair Clarkson to replace him.
Rutten took training this morning, sharing a laugh with the retiring Michael Hurley
while he remains in the dark about his future.
As a fellow coach, a former teammate at the Adelaide Crows and a mate, Goodwin hasn’t been happy with the way Rutten has been treated, and said so on Thursday.
“I’m a mate of Ben, I’ve reached out to Ben,” he said.
“It’s a really tough situation. To be honest, I think we all sit here as coaches and we look at that situation and the one thing you want in our industry is respect, and I don’t think Ben has been afforded that.
“I think it’s been pretty poor how he’s been treated. Hopefully, he comes out the other side.
“But he’s shown enormous dignity in the way he has gone about his business. He’s given four years of incredible service to that footy club and our industry.
“He’s a great person and a great coach, and I just hope he comes out the other side and he’s treated the right way.”
If the Bombers sack Rutten the club faces a payout of about $600,000 which must be included in the club’s soft cap along with Clarkson’s salary for next year.
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Both North Melbourne and Essendon are anxiously awaiting Clarkson’s next move with his manager James Henderson telling Channel 9: “Clarko is now moving quickly to a decision.”
Roos President Sonja Hood said the club had remained in close contact with Clarkson and Henderson, saying she was “really happy” with the process, despite Essendon’s late bid to scuttle their plans.
She confirmed the Kangaroos expected an answer from Clarkson about his intentions by the end of the weekend.
Asked about the Kangaroos board meeting on Wednesday, Hood told Channel 7: “We talked about a whole lot of stuff including the coaching position for next year and we’re pretty comfortable with where things are at.”
“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.
“We think we have presented well to him (Clarkson); he has presented well to us. We understand where each other is at and we’ll see how that plays out.”
Hood added: “We have had fantastic communication with both him and James (Henderson) all the way throughout. We just needed to know where things were at, so that if we needed to move on to Plan B, we could move onto Plan B.”
“If we need a plan B, come back and ask me then, and I will give you all the details.”
Reports have suggested North Melbourne would reach out to Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley as part of its plan B if Clarkson knocks the club back.
Hinkley said he was not interested in the North job.
“I can only answer it the same way I’ve answered always. I’m committed to Port Adelaide and expect to see out my contract at Port Adelaide as Port Adelaide are to me,” Hinkley told SEN SA.
“Sometimes you try to shortcut that question and people get critical of you trying to shortcut that question, but you’ve answered it so many times, for me, it’s been pretty clear from the club and myself – what more can we say?”
The Bombers on Wednesday were continuing their talks with Clarkson’s management about taking over from embattled coach Ben Rutten as the week of drama continued at Tullamarine.
New Essendon president David Barham told Bombers’ staff over email on Wednesday he had spoken to Rutten and the senior leadership group about the senior coaching situation.
Clarkson has indicated he is interested in continuing his brilliant coaching career at Essendon after winning four premierships at Hawthorn.
ONE CLUB IS GOING TO MISS OUT ON CLARKO. WHAT ARE THEIR OPTIONS?
BOMBERS’ BACK-UP PLAN
If Clarkson chooses to coach North Melbourne, Essendon can:
-Keep Ben Rutten (and try and repair relationship)
This seems to be the most unlikely outcome. It is hard to get toothpaste back in the tube, and Ben Rutten has spent the week worrying the axe was about to fall at any given second. It would be a huge about-face given Essendon courting Alastair Clarkson while Rutten was still at the helm. Could Essendon repair the relationship and could Rutten stay? Stranger things have happened, but it still seems very unlikely given all that has transpired.
-Bring in support for Rutten
Could Rutten stay at Essendon with a big-hitter alongside him? This is a more feasible Plan B rather than the club just keeping Rutten and going back to how things were before this week started. Mark ‘Choco’ Williams has been praised for his work at premier Melbourne alongside Simon Goodwin. Could he coaxed to the Bombers? He was once an assistant coach under Kevin Sheedy at the Bombers in 1995 and 1996, but it would be a stretch to suggest he has an emotional attachment to the club. It is still worth asking the question though.
-Go through a coaching process (Hinkley, Cameron, Giansiracusa, Don Pyke, Hird, Solomon, McVeigh)? If not Clarkson, then who? Ken Hinkley might be their first phone call. He still has a year left on his contract at the Power, but one gets the feeling Port would not stand in his way if he flagged a move. Former Giants coach Leon Cameron is also on the market, and his experience may appeal to the Bombers. Former Suns assistant Dean Solomon is highly regarded and an Essendon premiership player, but it is highly unlikely the Dons will go for another untried senior coach. Former Crows coach Don Pyke is also now at the Swans as an assistant coach, but will Adelaide’s 2018 camp revelations count against him? Speaking of former coaches, is there any way the club considers a phone call to its former golden boy James Hird? This seems highly unlikely but you never know.
ROOS’ BACK-UP PLAN
If Clarkson chooses Essendon, what is North Melbourne’s plan B
-Get going in a hurry. Poor North Melbourne. It has once again been left at the altar after being on all in on getting Clarkson for months. Who do they get on the phone to first? Former Roos Adam Simpson has said no more than once, but he is surely worth one more call. Who else could bypass the proper coaching process with the others? How about Ross Lyon? The former St Kilda and Fremantle coach seems quite comfortable in his media gigs, but he has indicated he will at least entertain a discussion with North Melbourne. For a club in North’s situation, Lyon’s experience would be of appeal. Ken Hinkley is also worth a call aa is former GWS coach Leon Cameron.
-Go through the process. It will be a bitter pill to swallow after getting tantalisingly close to landing the four-time premiership-winning great. Although, this is where the Kangaroos are at now. If they pick up the phone and get a few nos from the likes of Simpson, Hinkley and Lyon, then the Roos are back at square one just when they thought they were about to roll out Clarko. Would the Kangas entertain an untried coach? Adam Kingsley or Ash Hansen are options. Like the Bombers, it seems unlikely.
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