Joe Daniher’s return, injuries and leadership changes among the questions Essendon fans want answered
The removal of Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker from Essendon’s leadership group made headlines this year. Coach John Worsfold has explained why the duo was dumped, as Sam Edmund examines the key issues facing the Bombers in 2020.
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Joe Daniher was made to stay, Orazio Fantasia and CEO Xavier Campbell chose to stay, John Worsfold and Lindsay Tanner will stay for one more and among all that there’s been plenty of surgery.
It’s been a volatile off-season at Essendon and there was plenty to discuss at the club’s annual general meeting and members’ forum.
WHAT NEXT FOR JOE DANIHER?
It was perhaps the most categoric we have heard John Worsfold on his belief Essendon can get Daniher to do a complete 180-degree turn and re-sign with the Bombers after his Sydney trade request.
“Put it this way, our No. 1 aim is to get Joe back playing his best footy, which will be great for us and great for him,” Worsfold said.
“I’m fairly confident that he’ll love his footy, he’ll love being out there with the boys and it will make it very tough for him to see himself playing anywhere else at the end of the year.”
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Football manager Dan Richardson said Daniher had been “no trouble at all” returning to the club he sought a trade from, declaring players more “pragmatic” about the trade period.
But what is quickly becoming a more pressing issue than where Daniher will play is when Daniher will play.
Neither player nor club can give an answer.
“I don’t know,” Worsfold said.
“We all want it to be as soon as possible, but we don’t want to rush it because that’s been some of his issues that have caused some of the delays.
“We don’t want to jeopardise years of his footy for the sake of rushing him back for two or three games. We’ve got to be patient.”
UNDER THE KNIFE
They were smashed by injuries last season and it’s the spate of post-season surgeries that must be of some concern.
With only 23 players – most of them young – deemed to be in “really good condition”, the Bombers appear to be facing a race against time the Demons can relate to, to get their best side on the park for Round 1.
With Daniher’s return date a mystery, Dyson Heppell had what Worsfold described as “pretty serious” foot surgery and was in a moon boot for six weeks.
David Zaharakis had three operations and James Stewart underwent a similar groin procedure to Daniher.
“It’s been an interesting start to our pre-season. At the moment we’ve had a few need some surgery at the end of the season so we’ve got a few getting to the end of their rehab and integrating into our training,” Rutten said.
“We’ve had about 23 guys in really good condition. The other guys, the more experienced players generally, are going to start integrating back in either before Christmas or after.
“There’s been a fairly big focus on getting those guys right.”
Asked about Zaharakis, Worsfold said: “Zakka had surgery post-season on a bad ankle injury and then it was irritating him a bit when he started to get running again in October. So they had to take out the band they put in his ankle.
“Then he got some foot issues as well so he had another procedure on his foot, so he’s had three operations. But he’s looking great and starting to feel good again.
“Our big improvement … will come from getting our best players on the park … and the improvement in that young crop and the more footy they play together means the club is going to hit its best years. We’ll be getting there fairly quickly.”
Heppell said he was on schedule and while not running fully yet, hoped to resume full training by late January.
“We’ve got quite an experienced crew in the rehab group at the moment so it’s given an awesome chance for the younger guys to really show their leadership and take control of the training leading into Christmas,” Heppell said.
ESSENDON 34
The supplements saga is never far from the surface and the Essendon hierarchy was faced with a number of questions over it and the subsequent 12 month bans handed down to 34 players.
Many of those questions centred on encouraging the club to continue to fight to officially clear the players, something chairman Lindsay Tanner said it was not prepared to do.
Tanner said the Bombers won’t support a Senate inquiry, declaring nothing could be gained.
“There is no prospect of changing the outcomes of all those processes and the impact they had on both the players and the Essendon Football Club,” Tanner said.
“Any such inquiry will cause significant distress for the people who are most affected … and the club therefore does not support that concept. We do not believe it would lead to anything positive for the club or the players.”
Tanner said he and CEO Xavier Campbell had repeatedly apologised to the affected players for the actions of the past and remained committed to supporting them, with Campbell reporting to the board annually on the contact he maintains with that group.
“I actually had a meeting with one player who specifically requested a formal meeting with me for the purposes of conveying an apology even though these have already been officially conveyed,” Tanner said.
HOOKED AND HURLED
The removal of Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley from the club’s leadership group ahead of the 2019 season made headlines.
Heppell led a streamlined group of five that included Zach Merrett, David Myers, Joe Daniher and Orazio Fantasia – the latter two becoming the subject of trade discussions as the year went on.
Asked if the club regretted that decision and if it caused disharmony, Worsfold said the move to cut Hooker and Hurley was partly due to the younger wave of players at the club.
“We asked players to give each other feedback on leadership traits. Both those boys (Hooker and Hurley) rated highly, but obviously so did boys like Orazio, Merrett and the captain,” Worsfold said.
“It was a tough call to leave anyone out. But the decision was made with a young group coming through … that the boys who were a little bit older could concentrate more on their footy and not have to do the extra development work.
“I don’t think it changed the way they acted at all. We hope it never does. I could certainly understand how people saw it … but we spoke to both boys about the reasons why.
“We sat down with ‘Hepp’ and the guys and they were very gracious about it. They understood the reasoning.”
In January the Dons will embark on a pre-season camp in Coffs Harbour to do what Heppell said was “finalise our culture, our values and what we want to stand for as a club”.
THE HANGAR
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell has turned his back on any potential move to the AFL, believing he has unfinished business.
Chief among that business would be the hangar – the Bombers’ training facility which has just started construction on a multimillion-dollar extension.
With Essendon cash positive for the first time since 2011, the new facility will continue to be the Victorian headquarters for Paralympics Australia, house a community and events centre and accommodation.
“It’s a multipurpose expansion that will no doubt be the best high-performance facility across the AFL and arguably the Australian sporting landscape,” Campbell said.
“The competition and the subsequent arms race has never been more even. Clubs are now required to consider non-traditional commercial opportunities and alternative strategic investments.
“This is done to best support our core business – football – and not take away from it.”
THE CHAIRMAN
Like the coach, there also appears to be a presidential handover as Lindsay Tanner steps down as chairman at the end of next season.
Tanner will remain on the board, but will relinquish his position after what will be five years in the top job after taking over from Paul Little in 2016.
He suggested his replacement would come from within.
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“We have an outstanding board and there a number of potential candidates to succeed me,” Tanner said.
“I intend to remain on the board and contribute in any way I can to the future success of the club.”
Paul Brasher, Dave Barham, Melissa Green, Sean Wellman, Katie Lio, Simon Madden, Andrew Muir, Peter Allen and Kate O’Sullivan currently make up the rest of the Essendon board.
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