David Zaharakis hits back at comments made by Matthew Lloyd about Essendon’s culture and lack of success

Essendon midfielder David Zaharakis has defended the club’s culture and fired back at Bombers’ great Matthew Lloyd, who claimed the players “don’t know what success is”.

Matthew Lloyd has criticisded Essendon’s culture and lack of success. Picture: Michael Klein

Essendon midfielder David Zaharakis has delivered a sharp rebuke to club great Matthew Lloyd’s attack on the Bombers’ lack of culture and success.

The Bombers’ goal kicking champion this week offered a brutal assessment of his former club, saying “they don’t know what success is” and “they wouldn’t know what culture is”.

But Zaharakis hit back at Lloyd, who he said would not really know what was going on inside the football club and backed the Dons’ culture as the strongest it had been in his time at Essendon.

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“He has got his own opinions, Lloydy, and he is entitled to them and not necessarily everyone has to agree with them,” Zaharakis said.

“I think the footy club is in a really strong position, stronger than what it’s been in my 12 years (there).

“I would dispute that highly what Lloydy is saying. If you are not involved in the four walls of the footy club you don’t really know what is going on.”

Matthew Lloyd has criticisded Essendon’s culture and lack of success. Picture: Michael Klein

Zaharakis, who joined the Bombers in 2008, praised the role coach John Worsfold had in helping build the culture at the club after weathering a “rough” period through the supplements saga.

“Our culture, especially since 2016 when ‘Woosha’ came in, he completely changed the culture from then, obviously we’d been through a pretty rough time for a couple of years,” Zaharakis said

“So him coming in – a completely a culture driven person – has completely changed the club, changed the personnel within the club.

“We are building a really strong culture at the footy club and I think a lot of our younger group are now seeing that and seeing how to actually behave as athletes and as professional footballers and also having that human connection.”

Speaking from his home during the AFL shutdown, Zaharakis admitted the uncertainty surrounding a return date for the league to restart the 2020 season was challenging and “messes with your mind”

While the NRL pushes ahead with plans to resume in late May, the AFL has yet to confirm a return date.

“It is the unknown that is quite challenging,” Zaharakis said.

“It does mess, for lack of a better word, with your motivation a little bit not knowing when an end point is.

“Not knowing when we are going to start training again or when Round 2 is kind of messes with your mind a little bit because you haven’t got that structure behind you.

“Being an athlete, you always have that structure being you. Not knowing when we start it does weigh in a little bit to how you are going to get motivated each day to train and get prepared.”

David Zaharakis has fended off an attack from club great Matthew Lloyd about the team’s culture.

Zaharakis said he supported the idea of playing “hubs” to get the season restarted, but would want more clarity from the AFL about how it would work.

“I think it is definitely a complex issue,” Zaharakis said.

“There is a lot to go into planning it and then everyone committing to it and getting through it.

“I definitely think us players are going to be open to it, because we all want to play football, that’s what we do and what we love. We’ve got to be open to playing some kind of season in some capacity or some way so whether that is player hubs, I’m definitely open to it.

“But (we need to know) … the full process of how exactly it would work, the challenges around it, where we could do it, the health and safety of the players are obviously the number one priority in all this.”

Zaharakis said the shutdown did have a benefit for the Bombers in providing more time for players such as Dyson Heppell and Joe Daniher to get over injuries.

“I think for us we would love to have those guys back in our side,” he said.

“Hopefully they have been able to do the proper training and proper rehab to get their bodies ready to go.”

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Originally published as David Zaharakis hits back at comments made by Matthew Lloyd about Essendon’s culture and lack of success