AFL 2023: How Essendon turmoil around Ben Rutten, Andrew Thorburn gave birth to new life

The Bombers left their fans with plenty of questions in 2022 after the sacking of Ben Rutten, and answered some in 2023, but with Brad Scott’s vision coming to the fore, are they ready to rise?

MELBOURNE, JULY 1, 2023: AFL Football Round 16 - Essendon V Port Adelaide at the MCG. Brad Scott coach of the Bombers. Picture: Mark Stewart

Having sifted through the rubble at ground zero last year, Essendon has now built a ground floor.

Another torrid few months enveloped the Bombers starting in August last year, not the first time in recent memory the club has shot itself in the foot.

There was the disastrously handled sacking of Ben Rutten, which came a week after president Paul Brasher fell on his sword.

Rutten’s axing caused ripples through the Hangar – CEO Xavier Campbell went three days later along with board members Sean Wellman, Simon Madden and Peter Allen.

Campbell’s replacement marked another disaster, with Andrew Thorburn lasting one day in October.

Andrew Thorburn lasted a hot minute.

The Dons entered 2023 with a new coach, president, CEO (again), trio of board members and captain, when Dyson Heppell was replaced by Zach Merrett.

And then the noise of take offs from Tullamarine went silent.

For some who bleed red and black, it was the implosion the club needed to have.

Brad Scott arrived as coach and Craig Vozzo as CEO, two of the surest hands in the business, as president Dave Barham quelled any board noise.

Vozzo is as solid as they come after a long stint at West Coast, while Scott came from the AFL with a hard edge and coaching experience.

Craig Vozzo was a reliable choice for CEO. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Madden, a bona fide club great who played 378 games in the sash, stepped away after arguing the Bombers should have let Rutten see through his vision as coach.

Just over 12 months on, he had no worry about the direction of his club.

“Whether you like it or not, change happens,” he said.

“As long as after that you say, ‘right, now we have to build a time of stability and build on it’. Then you have a chance.

“From the outside, the CEO is very good and he is working on that stability, the coach has a good game plan, the list is being developed. It is being added to and they are picking up a few mature blokes, which you have to do all the time to keep the group together.

“If the club keeps going down this path, there is a real chance.”

You don’t have to ask Essendon fans about the wait since a finals win – the infamous streak will hit 7000 days on Wednesday.

And this might make Dons fans wince: Madden believes patience is still the key, as he sees 2024 as a “consolidation year” and 2025 as “a good year”.

“Unfortunately for some, Essendon people need to have another couple of years of patience,” he said.

“You have to develop more players. You have to let the coach do his job and give him time to do that job and build on what has happened and then you might start to see some results.

“If you think it is going to happen overnight, you are kidding yourself.”

Insiders believe, not for the first time in the last decade or so, that the club is on the other side of its struggles.

Ben McKay could have gone to several clubs but chose Essendon. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

One bemoaned an inability to secure in past seasons, a trend that was reversed this off-season.

Ben McKay knocked back offers from across the league to sign with the Dons as a free agent, as he could see the potential in the list and is confident the club is in an upswing.

Holding cap space to front-end his huge deal also didn’t hurt.

St Kilda’s Jade Gresham chose the Dons and Todd Goldstein went to the Hangar even though he will clearly be behind Sam Draper in the ruck pecking order.

As winger Xavier Duursma realised his future may lie elsewhere, his manager David Trotter began testing the waters and within 24 hours Brad Scott and recruiting boss Adrian Dodoro were meeting the Power youngster and on the way to securing his commitment.

Ball magnet Darcy Parish and rebound ace Mason Redman turned their backs on other offers to sign long extensions with the club after Scott publicly said the Dons wouldn’t bow to hefty demands from the duo.

Xavier Duursma wound up at the Dons. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos

“Who is going to come to a club that has no stability? I think those changes had to be made, we had to make those changes and as a result, what are you seeing now?,” a club staffer said.

“The club is stable and everyone is on the same page. It is positive.”

Essendon will still have room in the cap to target big names in coming years and will need some big swings to come off to suddenly leap into premiership contention, with the club aiming to stay out of the pointy end of the draft.

Football boss Josh Mahoney departed this season in a much smoother transition than last year’s chaos, with Daniel McPherson to take over his AFL responsibilities and Aysha Ward to carry the job as head of AFLW.

The only notable off-field change coming at this stage is the fade-out of Dodoro, who will guide Matt Rosa in to take his role after two decades at the club.

But the recruiting doyen told the media at the end of this month’s trade period that he will still be around in some form and may not step away as quickly as expected.

The quick bounce to contender status has been a theme of the last 24 months in the AFL, as Collingwood and the GWS Giants came from seemingly nowhere.

And Essendon fans were watching jealously as Carlton dropped from the clouds to make a preliminary final.

For a while this year, it was the Bombers who were set to have a say in September – as late as July the Bombers sat sixth and the Blues 15th.

Instead, it was Carlton that shook the MCG in the finals.

Essendon people are impressed with Brad Scott. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

“I want to see an MCG full of 90,000 Essendon supporters and nobody else can get in, I would love to see that and be part of it,” Madden said.

“I would love to see another side do it as soon as possible but as soon as possible doesn’t mean sometime next week or even next year. It is when all the bits come together.”

The Bombers fell in a heap and fell out of the eight in the final rounds of the season, causing Scott to demand his players take the off-season seriously and premiership player Adam Ramanauskas to declare in August that the club “wasted” its final games.

While Ramanauskas the commentator wasn’t happy then, two months later Ramanuskas the player agent saw his client McKay happily choose the Dons.

On ABC Radio in August, he also questioned why the club couldn’t keep its players on the field when it mattered and several players thought to be a big part of the future face prove-it pre-seasons.

Most of the club’s future spine, Draper, Zach Reid, Harry Jones, Nik Cox, Peter Wright, all were smashed by injuries in 2023.

Simon Madden has preached patience. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Looking back now, Madden is still unsure whether Rutten should have been booted but he is sure the club has to back Scott and Vozzo’s new regime for the long haul.

“I thought stability would have been better (last year) but it doesn’t really matter now,” Madden said.

“You can’t change the past, you can only really learn from it and look to the future. I would expect them to honour the coach’s contract for the full four years and hopefully he might get a couple more and you might see something really good happening.”

Now the foundations have been laid over the top of ground zero, the Dons have to build skyward.

Originally published as AFL 2023: How Essendon turmoil around Ben Rutten, Andrew Thorburn gave birth to new life