Essendon premiership hero Ted Fordham tells Bombers to send Joe Daniher packing

A club great has urged Essendon to send free agent Joe Daniher packing, with the star forward still unsigned despite the season finishing. He also had some strong words for Orazio Fantasia.

What does the future hold for Adam Saad. Picture: Getty Images

Essendon premiership hero Ted Fordham has urged the club to send restricted free agent Joe Daniher packing.

Fordham, a former Bombers vice-president who kicked seven goals in the club’s 1965 Grand Final triumph, said he was disgusted by Daniher’s decision to leave the club hanging on a contract offer.

“He thinks he’s bigger than the club and when a bloke gets to that stage, you bloody get rid of him,” Fordham told the Herald Sun.

“You only have to look at his last 11 games and his stats – he’s done nothing and he thinks he’s a superstar.

“I can’t say anything bad about him as a person but as a player at the Essendon Football Club I think he has set a very, very bad example.

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The Bombers are waiting on Joe Daniher’s decision. Picture: Michael Klein

“I’ve seen this coming for two years with Daniher and the sooner they get rid of him, the better off they’ll be. And they can get rid of Orazio (Fantasia), too.

“I’m very concerned about the club to be truthful.

“I watch every game and I think I’m a pretty good judge of a player and pretty good judge of a person and I’m very, very disappointed in what is going on at the club at the moment.

“Joe Daniher’s efforts have been a disgrace and he should have made a decision by now as to whether he’s going to stay at the club.

“I’d give Adam Saad five years and pay him what he wants.

“As for these other blokes who don’t want to be at the club – I think it is detrimental.”

Fordham, 80, spoke to the Herald Sun as part of the club’s 55th premiership reunion to be held via Zoom on Friday.

Daniher, linked to Sydney, Geelong and Brisbane, has been given two weeks by Bombers chiefs to decide his future.

“They should have let Joe Daniher go last year and got what they could for him,” Fordham said.

“We’ve got a long way to go and for (coach Ben) Rutten to turn around and say, ‘We’re going to be tough, we’re going to be this and we’re going to be that’ and then says to a bloke you’ve got two weeks to make up your mind whether you are going to be at the club – I just thinks that’s really, really bad.

“It sickens me to see (Zach) Merret and (Andrew) McGrath and (Dylan) Shiel and a few of the others busting their balls to get the ball down and other blokes sitting on the fence like Daniher did in one game.

“And when I pick up the paper and see that (Michael) Hurley and (Cale) Hooker are dirty on the fact that they didn’t play (Tom) Bellchambers for a farewell game – I just think that’s sad.

“I didn’t think they could beat Melbourne. And what was it going to matter playing Bellchambers anyway if that is what the players wanted?

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“They have taken the wrong avenue on quite a few occasions.”

Fordham said he would be mortified if the Bombers recruited North Melbourne’s Ben Brown or Melbourne’s Tom McDonald as a replacement for Daniher and questioned the leadership of outgoing president Lindsay Tanner.

“We haven’t heard from our president for months. And I always remember Timmy Watson saying that the fish rots from the head,” he said.

“Paul Brasher (Tanner’s replacement) has got a big job in front of him.”

Brasher will take charge at Essendon in December.

TRUMP CARD EMERGES IN RACE FOR DANIHER SIGNATURE

Sam Landsberger and Nick Smart

Brisbane’s medical miracle team has emerged as the wildcard in the race to sign Essendon superstar Joe Daniher.

News Corp can reveal that Daniher has reached out to multiple Lions to inquire about the club’s facilitates and rehabilitation programs.

Daniher, 26, was spotted in the Brisbane CBD on Wednesday although it is understood he cannot complete a tour of the club’s Gabba base because he is no longer in the AFL bubble.

The Bombers have checked out of their Novotel Twin Waters hub on the Sunshine Coast and therefore they cannot be in contact with any player or official still in the premiership race and in their club’s bubble.

Daniher has enjoyed Queensland’s warm weather this season, which has also helped his body recover from games.

The Bombers currently hold the No. 6 draft pick and would pocket No. 7 if Daniher leaves as a restricted free agent on a fat contract.

Lincoln McCarthy has enjoyed a career renaissance in Queensland.

Joe Daniher embraces John Worsfold after what could prove to be both of their last games with Essendon.

Daniher has missed 47 games through injury since his All-Australian season in 2017.

The Lions’ experienced medicos received glowing endorsements when Daniher sought feedback and, unlike the Bombers, they are gearing up for another finals series.

In recent years the Lions have turned around the careers of Lincoln McCarthy (Geelong) and Grant Birchall (Hawthorn), and extended Luke Hodge’s career by 41 games after he retired in 2017.

“It just wasn’t happening there (Hawthorn) with my body for the past couple of years, so I thought a change would do me a world of good,” Birchall told News Corp on Wednesday.

“The physios and medical staff up here are first-class and that was another reason why I joined.”

Birchall, 32, played eight games in his final three years at Hawthorn due to crippling knee problems.

But the four-time premiership warrior got through 14 games in his first season at the Lions and will enter next week’s qualifying final with a contract already triggered for 2021.

Remarkably, Lincoln McCarthy played 10 games in four out of his five seasons as a Cat and has since played 39 out of a possible 41 games at Brisbane.

One of the two games McCarthy missed as a Lion was through suspension.

Peter Blanch runs Brisbane’s medical team, which includes doctors Paul McConnell and Andrew Smith and physiotherapist Dirk Spits.

Grant Birchall had played eight games in three seasons before joining Brisbane.

High performance boss Damien Austin also plays a crucial role and the Lions are hoping Daniher and possibly Nakia Cockatoo and Quinton Narkle (Geelong) are their next success stories.

The Lions’ next list management meeting is scheduled for Friday.

Under list boss Dom Ambrogio, football boss David Noble, coach Chris Fagan and welfare boss Andrew Crowell they have transformed into a destination club.

They are now hunting a key forward as the final piece in their premiership puzzle.

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North Melbourne’s Ben Brown is on the market while Port Adelaide spearhead Charlie Dixon turned them down last month by re-signing for three years.

Geelong and Sydney are also interested in Daniher while Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said the club needed to improve “forward of centre” with Tom McDonald out of favour.

“Sammy Weideman’s just had to stand up really tall for us,” Goodwin said.

“We’re down to one tall, so forward of centre we’re very young, we’ve got Luke Jackson sitting in the wings.

“It’s an area we’ve got to keep getting better at.”

Originally published as Essendon premiership hero Ted Fordham tells Bombers to send Joe Daniher packing