By Peter Ryan, Caroline Wilson and Jon Pierik
Long-serving Essendon recruiter Adrian Dodoro is not expected to return to the Bombers after being granted leave to deal with personal matters, as the club prepares to make a last-ditch bid to play finals against Sydney on Friday night.
Two club sources, who would not comment publicly as the situation remained sensitive in a legal and an emotional sense, confirmed that Dodoro was not expected to return to the club, having come close to accepting that his time was up.
Veteran recruiter Adrian Dodoro has taken personal leave.Credit: Getty Images
The veteran recruiter has been on leave for several weeks, with Bombers chief executive Craig Vozzo releasing a statement on Friday to clarify the situation and ask people to respect his privacy.
“Adrian Dodoro has stepped away from the club to focus on personal matters,” Vozzo said.
“In accordance with the club’s transition plan which commenced in November last year, Matt Rosa has fully assumed responsibility for leading the club’s list management and recruiting team during the 2024 trade, free agency and draft periods.
“The club asks people to respect Adrian and his family’s privacy during this period.”
He indicated in September last year he would step back from his role.
Dodoro, a life member at the Bombers, has been with the club for close to three decades having begun in a full-time role in 1998.
He had been winding back his role this season after agreeing last September to assist Rosa in the transition after the former Eagle was appointed to the club as AFL talent and operations manager.
Dodoro said in a statement at that time that such roles were “very taxing on individuals and their families” and he wanted to step back to provide himself and his family a better work-life balance.
The Bombers’ list has come under constant scrutiny after a long period without finals success with Dodoro working alongside six full-time coaches since Kevin Sheedy finished up in 2007.
He also remained during the drugs saga that derailed Essendon’s progress from 2013 onwards.
The Bombers announced on Thursday that Sheedy was stepping down from the board. Sheedy joined the board in October 2020, and was instrumental in luring former player Andrew Welsh back to the club. Welsh is now club vice president and heads the football governance committee.
“The club is in excellent hands with president David Barham and the current board. Vice president Andrew Welsh is doing an excellent job, looking after the football aspects from a board point of view. I was happy to step up and help when asked by Paul Brasher in 2020, and I have always done everything that I can to help this club. This will never stop,” Sheedy said in a statement.
“I am very confident under the leadership of CEO Craig Vozzo and senior coach Brad Scott, that we are on the road to success. We have returned to being a football club where our ultimate focus is on winning football games and making our members and supporters proud with everything we do. Essendon means so much to so many people and with the current stability and renewed focus at the football club, we have the right foundations for sustainable success.”
Sheedy was contacted for further comment on Friday.
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd said on Friday it was the right time for change at the club.
“Kevin Sheedy, I think it’s the right time,” he told 3AW. “But I could just say on the both of them, they have been highly influential, and the passion for the club, for the negatives on them, I don’t know two more passionate people for the club.
“It doesn’t mean they stay there forever, but the passion and their heart for the club is as big as anything I have seen in my time.″
It’s been a week of change for the Bombers, for former skipper Dyson Heppell announced on Tuesday he was retiring at the end of the season.
Midfielder Jye Caldwell re-signed for four years this week.
Essendon are currently 10th on the ladder, having all but fallen out of finals contention after spending 14 rounds in the top eight. They need to win their final two home-and-away games, including against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba next week, and rely on other results going their way, if they to be alive come September.
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