Essendon chief Xavier Campbell explains how John Worsfold and Ben Rutten have made coaching succession plan work
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell has had a close look at how the Bombers’ coaching handover from John Worsfold to Ben Rutten is operating inside their quarantine hub and is thrilled with what he has witnessed.
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Five games into Essendon’s senior coaching succession plan, chief executive Xavier Campbell says the handover from John Worsfold to Ben Rutten is more advanced than he first thought.
Campbell says stepping inside the club’s quarantine bubble on the Gold Coast after spending three months on the outside during the competition shutdown had reiterated to him they had made the right decision.
The Bombers have so far defied any potential distraction of the coaching succession plan, injuries to key players and a coronavirus crisis involving star defender Conor McKenna to sit fourth on the ladder with a game in hand going into Round 7 this weekend.
The only game Essendon has lost this season was to Carlton by one point in Round 4 and they take on the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium on Friday night.
Campbell said he could not be more pleased with the dynamic between Worsfold and Rutten and the buy-in from the players.
“Particularly from the outside looking in, the obvious measurement is wins and losses, but it shouldn’t always be just that,” Campbell said.
“Clearly that’s important but we are still developing our group, our performance culture, and there’s a whole range of other measures internally around education, preparedness to play roles, things like that.
“Success isn’t linear and there will be times when it feels like two steps forward, a step back, a step sideways and then another step forward - and that’s OK.
“But a real aspect that I’ve been able to see in the last two weeks since coming into the bubble, having been out of it for three months essentially, is forget the wins and losses, internally the alignment and progression with gameplan, the care the players are showing, as much the culture piece as performance.”
Worsfold is still calling the shots but Rutten is very much at the wheel.
During Wednesday’s main training session at Metricon Stadium, Rutten stood in the middle of the ground barking instructions and had animated discussions with the players in between kicking and marking the footy himself.
“John’s the senior coach, and Ben is the senior assistant coach, we’re clear on that,” Campbell said.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with John, and I’m probably putting words in his mouth, but when he thinks about his legacy he probably thinks about how well prepared is he leaving Ben to navigate through the complexities of being a senior coach, because it’s not easy.
“In many respects I’ve even seen the evolution of who’s responsible for what takes place this year and we’re probably slightly ahead of where I thought we would be.
“John has certainly given Ben ownership of the gamestyle and gameplan and that’s obvious, it doesn’t mean John doesn’t do an enormous amount of work when they bounce off and scenario plan different decisions about gamestyle or selection, but that’s exactly how a strong succession plan should take place.
“We’ve really allowed those two to make the decisions around how quickly they will progress with handing over aspects of the senior coaching portfolio.
“I’ve been really comfortable and Dan Richardson our GM of football has been comfortable with the progress so far, and we still have a long way to go this season, but the really signs have been really positive.”
When Rutten retired after 229 games for Adelaide in 2014, then Crows boss Brenton Sanderson described him as a senior coach in the making.
Six years later, including four as an assistant coach at Richmond, the rookie-listed defender who became one of Adelaide’s greatest ever players, is preparing to take charge of the Bombers in his own right.
Campbell never set out to recruit Rutten from Richmond in 2018 because he was the chosen one, but with the view of putting the strongest possible coaching team in place for when the time came that Worsfold was done.
“You’re always trying to create a really strong level of capability in your coaching group - as deep and wide as you can,” Campbell said.
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“That coupled with John’s changing circumstances meant we were really active in trying to get the best available assistant coach into the club to help build that depth.
“But to also consider at a point in time different options around potential succession.
“It was never anything that was offered, it was purely the opportunity to work with a really experienced senior coach and something he brought into.
“It was a big decision for him because he hadn’t been at Richmond for that long, but they’d had great success.
“And he made an immediate impact when he came to our football club.
“The two are really close and the mentoring Ben has been given by John has been invaluable.”
Campbell describes the process of settling on a succession plan as “organic” as Rutten’s strengths began to shine, including his understanding of the game, relationship with the players, coaching philosophies and education.
“It probably wasn’t until the second half of the year when John and I had been having discussions about what his future was looking like, and he’s in a unique position,” Campbell said.
“He’s (Worsfold) been excellent for our football club and has been a fantastic club person, and the impact he’s had on our football club in a pretty unique five-year period has been immeasurable.
“And it sort of made sense by the end that we could build what we thought was a well thought through, sound plan, to continue building on what we had in place at the start of John’s tenure.”
Every team in the competition has had to deal with extreme uncertainty this season but only one has had to deal with a player who returned a positive coronavirus test.
The crisis surrounding Irishman Conor McKenna saw Essendon’s Round 3 game with Melbourne postponed - and still not rescheduled - the club’s headquarters were completely shutdown and deep cleaned and for a brief time they faced the possibility of having a chunk of their backline unavailable.
They lost to Carlton by one point in Round 4 but have since beaten Collingwood and North Melbourne, adding to their scalps against Fremantle and Sydney, to put themselves squarely in the finals race.
“Our group’s always been a resilient group,” Campbell said.
“For many of them they’ve had to learn that through the uniqueness of circumstances, the leadership has been able to pass those lessons on to the group and I couldn’t be more proud of the way they’ve embraced the challenges of covid.
“At this point in time the players appreciate how lucky they are to be in this position but like all clubs it’s going to get harder before it gets easier.”
In an interview from the Gold Coast this week, Campbell also said:
*Injured skipper Dyson Heppell’s leadership was shining through in their Queensland hub.
“He’s such a selfless club person, he helped with Leigh Tudor on the weekend in a coaching role in our scratch game against North Melbourne,” he said.
“Seeing Dyson running through edits with younger players and watching his leadership in the rehabilitation group with younger, less experienced players he’s really dragging them along and it’s invaluable for them.
“He’s tracking really well, hard working and dedicated and from a physical perspective he will make sure he’s best placed to return as quickly as he can.”
*The emergence of Brayden Ham, Jordan Ridley and Andrew Phillips this season showed young players could come in and play a specific role for the team.
“What we’re continuing to work on is there are particular roles players need to play, that is still a work in progress and we’re not at the level we know we need to get at every single week,” he said.
“It’s been pleasing to see the group buy-in, take out the reference to individuals, it’s been really pleasing.”
*Joe Daniher is in a good headspace despite his latest calf setback this week.
“It’s an innocuous injury that happens to a range of players when they get to a point in their rehabilitation where they’re getting close to playing again and they’re increasing loads.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with pre-existing injuries, but he’s in a good frame of mind, in good space and is adding an enormous amount to the playing group off the field and we’re proud of the work he’s been doing.”
Originally published as Essendon chief Xavier Campbell explains how John Worsfold and Ben Rutten have made coaching succession plan work