Eddie McGuire left surprised by Essendon coach John Worsfold’s bizarre post-match comments
He’s been involved in a war of words with Essendon great Matthew Lloyd and now, after an odd press conference following a crushing loss against Port, John Worsfold has left Collingwood president Eddie McGuire dumbfounded.
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It hasn’t been a great few days for John Worsfold.
After Woosha’s war of words with Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is the latest to take aim at the Essendon coach after his bizarre “Essendon people” post-match press conference on the weekend.
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“I understand that Essendon people think that Essendon should be better, but they’ve also got to understand that the competition challenges clubs now to work to the same rules – the draft and the salary cap,” Worsfold said after the Bombers were pumped by Port Adelaide.
“No one team has any more right to be successful quicker than any other team, just because they’re a big-name club.
“You’ve got to knuckle down and commit to doing the work. Good clubs will do that and come out of it with success.”
McGuire, notoriously defensive of his beloved Pies, was bemused by the outgoing coach’s remarks.
“I reckon he has just left the greatest bomb of all-time with one game to go,” McGuire said on Triple M’s Hot Breakfast.
“He has just smashed them on the way out the door.
“That is as big a backhander I’ve heard going out the door. Wow, that is unbelievable.”
On Sunday, the war of
Lloyd, on Sunday, hit back at Worsfold, accusing the outgoing coach of “confusing everyone” and declaring his tenure should have ended a year ago.
Lloyd had last week argued the club had lacked direction under Worsfold. Woosha then fired back at the legendary goalkicker and questioned whether he had “garnered much support” in the wake of the stunning plea for a turnaround.
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Asked to deliver a message directly to Worsfold, Lloyd said a handover should have been considered much earlier.
“I would say thank you (to John) for taking over at a time where the club was an absolute mess in regards to the supplements saga,” Lloyd said on Nine.
“But I think they probably should have ended John’s term 12 months ago.”
Worsfold said he considered Lloyd was “not making (his comments) as an Essendon champion … he is making them as someone who has to earn his pay, so he needs to do that”.
Turns out, plenty of fans agree with Lloyd.
Lloyd, who played 270 games and kicked 926 goals for Essendon, said on Sunday he had been overwhelmed by messages from Essendon people in support of his comments, and was adamant that he had “never made one comment in my life about pay packet”.
“It’s always just trying to be fair across the board, and what I see, I go with,” Lloyd said.
“He also said ‘I don’t think he’s garnered much support with his comments’. I’ve never had so many Essendon people get in touch with me to say ‘thank you, thank you for showing some passion’.
“Because there’s no passion. There’s no emotion. There’s no conviction. The mixed messages, they’re just at their wit’s end. For him to come out there (on Saturday) and talk about where we’re at, (and say) ‘we’re a young team, we’re this, we’re that’, it was just another piece of John confusing everyone because of his mixed messages.”
The Hall of Fame member – who questioned Bombers football boss Dan Richardson on the team’s brand before Saturday’s loss – said there “is nothing that is identifiable from what they’re saying they want to play”.
“Essendon are ranked 14th for time in forward half, and 15th for pressure,” he said.
“There’s no emotion out of Rutten, there’s no emotion out of Worsfold.
“I think people have liked seeing me show some passion and what we want to get to, which unfortunately no one internally is.”
WOOSHA WISTFUL AS KENNY CALLS ON CONTINUITY
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he is proud of his team for locking away a top-two finish but won’t flirt with form by resting players against Collingwood in the last round or be satisfied that it has achieved anything before finals.
“It’s a great effort by the team, they deserve it, they’ve sat on top of the ladder since Round 1 and it’s almost like we’ve sat fifth,” Hinkley said after Port Adelaide’s 50-point win over Essendon.
“Good on the boys for getting that done but I know they’re not satisfied, they want another win and we have a great opponent coming up in Collingwood.
“The opportunity is there and it’s for us to capitalise on, but we’ve still got another game to go and I’d like us to continue doing what we’re doing and play another strong game next week because there’s nothing better than being in good form.
“With (top two) locked away it can be a little distracting but I think the group showed tonight that they’re not getting distracted and are prepared to play every game on its merits, they’ve been led that way all year that scoreboard, ladder, outcomes is not what we chase, it’s about doing it together and we’ve done it pretty well.
“Every team this year has had moments, not perfect footy and we’re not different, but we’ve been able to be pretty solid with our consistency, everyone in this room would have sat here in the last 18 months and knocked us for being inconsistent. That’s what I’m proud of, we’ve been really consistent.”
WOOSHA DEFENDS WOEFUL BOMBERS
Under-siege Essendon coach John Worsfold says critics need to understand the challenges his team has faced this season and fans cannot expect success just because they are a big club.
Speaking after the Bombers’ 50-point loss to Port Adelaide which leaves Worsfold with just one game in charge remaining before he hands over to Ben Rutten, he said external debate over the club’s performance was missing the mark.
“I’m not really sure what the debate was about so our focus tonight was to continue to work on playing the style of footy we want to play, work hard together, for each other and trying to improve,” he said.
“So it’s hard to answer any questions about the debate.
From what I’ve seen in my time in football, inexperienced teams struggle to compete against very experienced teams for the course of a full game, and for big parts of the game we took it right up to them but their class was too much in the end.
“I’m really confident if Essendon stick to what they’re working on and believe in together, we’ll see where they’re at, but we haven’t had the opportunity to see that all year.
“Pretty much all year we’ve had seven of our first 22 out of the team, tonight we had Daniher out there but we know he’s going to be working back to his best footy next year … Stringer the same with the footy he’s missed, there are a lot of factors to take into account.
“I understand that Essendon people think that Essendon should be better but they’ve also got to understand the competition challenges clubs now to work to the same rules of the draft and salary cap, and no one team has any more right to be successful quicker than any other team just because they’re a big-name club.
“So you’ve got to knuckle down and commit to doing the work, and good clubs will come of it with success.”
Worsfold pointed to Port Adelaide as an example of the journey the Bombers should be taking.
“They’re (Power) not there (top of the ladder) because they’re fluking it, they’ve worked hard at this for six or seven years to get to where they’re at, they’ve committed to it and stuck at it, and that’s what I’m saying you’ve got to be prepared to do that,” he said.
“You’re talking about a team that’s right in a premiership window in terms of age and experience and they don’t travel at the moment, living at home, and playing a very inexperienced team that is trying to learn.
“Trying to learn without getting the opportunity to train together, and the facts are we are well below where we want to be but that’s through a lot of factors other than understanding what we’re trying to do and committing to it, that’s not the reason where we’re at.”
Worsfold said Cale Hooker was dropped because coaching staff didn’t believe he was close to regaining his best form.
“Generally we leave players out of the team if they are performing below the level that we expect from them, and that we know they can give output and if we can’t see they’ll bounce back to that level in that coming game,” he said.
“We are looking for things that say they’re ready to play back at their best footy and we hadn’t seen that from Cale.”
As he nears his final game in charge as a senior coach at Essendon at least, Worsfold said he had no time for sentiment.
“I’m excited about the challenge of having a really good week’s preparation for Melbourne,” he said.
“It’s a testing time when you can’t qualify for the finals around the attitude that we see from the players this week is going to be a big indication of how successful they want to get and how quickly they want to get there.
“My job is to support these boys to get to where I think they can get to as quickly as they can.
“I may only have seven days more contact with them and I’ll do my best in that time to help set the standard to where they want to get to going forward.”
TOP TWO A LOCK BUT PORT HAS BIG CALLS TO MAKE
Port Adelaide’s path to two home finals became clear but the 22 who will front for the first of them remains up for debate after the Power brushed aside Essendon by 50 points on Saturday.
With only Collingwood in Round 18 to come, Port Adelaide is now guaranteed a top-two finish and a perfect platform for a tilt at breaking a 16-year premiership drought.
The Bombers meanwhile have now won just one of their past eight games and the official handover from coach John Worsfold to Ben Rutten – and the fresh start supporters crave – cannot come quickly enough after another dismal performance.
Port Adelaide’s midfield was beaten in the first quarter and this time there was no Zak Butters to go in and give them a spark.
But Travis Boak’s gut-running, Sam Powell-Pepper’s pressure and Tom Rockliff’s work inside helped get the game back on their terms, and they were never headed after the first break.
Importantly they also avoided injury at a time when some of their rivals are losing key personnel on the eve of finals.
PLAYING ON THE EDGE
With one game to go before finals there are a few players in Port Adelaide’s team who are auditioning to keep their spots.
Brad Ebert probably did enough, kicking a long goal, out-marking Zach Merrett one-out, tackling hard and running back to help in defence.
Kane Farrell will be nervous after only four touches, and Riley Bonner twice kicked it out on the full but saved a goal with a smother and got better the longer the game went.
Most intrigue surrounds Steven Motlop who has been in and out of the side and showed flashes against the Bombers.
Playing forward he finished with a modest 13 disposals but the best of them were brilliant – some creative forward entries and a set-shot goal from outside 50m late in the game.
Which small forward survives when Zak Butters returns from suspension will be a big call.
But Xavier Duursma who was dropped mid-season showed he won’t miss again this year with desperation and two-way running, and any doubt over Tom Rockliff’s importance to the midfield was put to bed with a hard-fought 30 disposals and a brilliant goal in heavy traffic.
BOMBS AWAY
Essendon’s midfield was on song early with Dylan Shiel, Darcy Parish and Zach Merrett helping them win clearances, contested possession and the scoreboard in the first term.
But when Port Adelaide upped the ante in the second quarter they were unable to maintain it and the team didn’t kick another goal until time-on of the third quarter.
Joe Daniher was held goalless, Jake Stringer gave nothing, finishing with just two touches and was involved in more fights than possessions, and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher added to his footy education with a difficult day on Charlie Dixon.
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The Bombers were simply outworked, out-tackled and couldn’t generate any significant movement off halfback.
Adam Saad racked up possession off halfback and Merrett never stopped working inside but the Dons were comprehensively beaten.
LOCK LADHAMS IN
Ken Hinkley said there was no secret recipe for Pete Ladhams to regain the trust of his teammates having served a three-game ban for breaching Covid protocol, he simply had to do his job on game day.
He didn’t rack up big numbers on Saturday and on a wet, slippery night he was never going to, but he showed the value he brings in a support role to Scott Lycett in the ruck and as a threat inside 50m.
He kicked a goal by taking the ball from a ruck contest, won a clearance in the middle, consistently gave a contest in the air and his delivery with the footy was very good.
While Ladhams, Lycett and Todd Marshall are in the team there appears to be no room for veteran Justin Westhoff.
Marshall didn’t kick a goal but his creativity by foot was excellent including a lace-out pass to Dixon on the lead in the first quarter.
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 1.2 6.7 7.13 11.13 (79)
def
ESSENDON 2.1 2.3 3.3 4.5 (29)
BEST
Port Adelaide: Rockliff, Boak, Hartlett, Wines, Clurey, McKenzie, Jonas. Essendon: Merrett, Saad, Ridley, Stewart, Shiel, Smith.
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Dixon 2, Ladhams, Powell-Pepper, Ebert, Gray, Rockliff, Wines, Boak, Duursma, Motlop. Essendon: Parish, Clarke, Cutler, Hams.
VOTES
3 — Tom Rockliff (Port Adelaide)
2 — Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
1 — Hamish Hartlett (Port Adelaide)
Originally published as Eddie McGuire left surprised by Essendon coach John Worsfold’s bizarre post-match comments