Essendon and coach Mitch Johnstone agree to mutual termination
Essendon and coach Mitch Johnstone have parted ways, despite the club championship-winning mentor having one year to run on his contract, after failing to come to terms on one key issue.
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Essendon is searching for a new coach after parting ways with Mitch Johnstone.
Johnstone still had one season to run on his contract but agreed to a mutual termination with the Premier Cricket club preferring a non-playing coach in 2020-21.
The former First XI player captained the Bombers’ Second XI during his time as coach and had hoped to continue in both roles.
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“Being 30 years old and still with a love for playing the game, I was willing to walk away from the job. I totally respect their position on wanting a non-playing coach,” Johnstone said.
“The next coach of the club will have an enormous amount of young talent to work with … and the senior core is as good as it gets in Premier Cricket.
After replacing Brendan Joyce in 2017-18, Johnstone lead the Bombers to finals each season and a first club championship in 51 years in 2018-19.
Essendon president Simon Tobin said it was an amicable decision to part ways and Johnstone’s place in club history was assured.
“He’s been with us for three years, undoubtedly the highlight was the club championship, and he’s got a big claim on that trophy,” Tobin said.
“We’re parting on good terms, he’ll always be welcome back, there’s no bad blood, it’s just a mature decision.
“The role of the senior coach requires presence across all XIs, particularly the First XI, and that was part of the discussion.”
James Seymour was a powerhouse at the top of the order, backing up his 922 runs last season with another 711, the third most in the competition.
Matt Doric continued to prove his class with the ball, his 36 scalps – including the 300th of his career – leaving him as the competition’s second highest wicket-taker after the season was called off with three weeks remaining because of the coronavirus crisis.
However, for the third season in a row, Essendon’s campaign ended at the hands of Carlton – a 134-run loss on Sunday.
“Bowing out to Carlton at Princes Park three years in a row felt like groundhog day but I think everyone could see that we have undergone a pretty significant list rebuild,” Johnstone said.
“The First XI was a little stiff with some washouts during the year when in prime position in games and to scrape in the eight wasn’t a true reflection of the team’s performance.”
Tobin said there was no time frame on the decision to appoint a new coach.
“There’s been some names thrown around, we’ve got internal options as well as external options, so we’ll work through those over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“It’s not a decision we want to rush into and there’s no need to because we’re still in the middle of March.”