Brendon Goddard reveals he gave up in Jobe Watson’s 200th game, opens up on James Hird’s downfall
Few Bombers have ever been as popular as Jobe Watson. But after the pre-game address for his 200th game, one teammate knew the red and black were in for all sorts of pain – and the white flag came out.
Essendon
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Brendon Goddard has admitted he “gave up” in Jobe Watson’s 200th game in late 2015 as Essendon imploded under the weight of three years of drugs-related scandal.
The AFL champion says he has no regrets about moving to Essendon despite him conceding it wasted the latter part of his career in his chase for an elusive flag.
Goddard says the 2016 season was one of the most enjoyable of his career because it forced him to alter his focus from pure football success.
But in an extraordinary insight into the mental toll of that long-running saga, he told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast the club hit rock bottom that day in July 2015.
He has huge admiration for Watson but says his body language was so deflated in his pre-match address it filtered a group battered by years of controversy.
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Essendon’s players were cleared of doping bans in early 2015 and were 3-3 before WADA announced a shock appeal, with the mentally drained Dons finishing 6-16 and coach James Hird eventually sacked.
Goddard is one of footy’s greatest competitors but in that Round 14 clash his side would lose by 110 points to St Kilda, as he recorded seven possessions and Watson only nine.
“To see Jobe in his pre-game speech in his 200th game, it’s the only game I have ever given up in. I just gave up. It was against the Saints ironically, we lost by 100 points,” he said.
“I knew we were doomed before the game when Jobe stood up there in his 200th and we were meant to be celebrating. He gave some great speeches pre-game but this one, he was just a defeated man. He was (cooked) and I knew it before the game. He wanted to be anywhere else but Etihad (Stadium) that day.
“I just stopped trying. It was, this is not worth it. It’s just a game of footy. I saw guys who didn’t want to be there and I didn’t want to be there.”
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Watson said after the game that he was not proud of his effort, as midfielder Dyson Heppell denied that Hird had “lost the dressing room”.
But in hindsight Hird’s coaching was not the problem. Essendon’s players had simply run out of motivation to compete with such a weight hanging over their heads.
Goddard maintains the players were innocent and despite horrific governance at Essendon, should have been exonerated.
He is saddened that Watson had to go through such a terrible experience in his milestone game.
The previous week Sam Mitchell had made his infamous needle gesture to Essendon’s Michael Hibberd as rival players openly mocked the Dons players.
“(It was) everything, the tone of his speech, everything. It was a 200th game and Friday night against the Saints at Etihad. You can imagine what it should look like, what it did look like, that’s the polar opposite,” Goddard said.
Goddard maintains he has no regrets about his initial decision and enjoyed his time at Essendon, even if he never got to chase that premiership.
“We did a list analysis at Essendon and I thought they were in a great position to do something great and I still firmly believe that if it wasn’t for the saga.
“That is the only thing I wanted to clear up. I was on radio and it came out that I have regrets. It’s not regrets that I feel, when I look back it wasted four years of not only mine but the guys involved. That’s fact. I don’t regret going there because when I made the decision I had all the information.
“Everything in front of me and firmly believed none of the guys at the footy club knew what was going to happen.”
GODDARD FURIOUS WITH TREATMENT DURING DRUGS SAGA
Brendon Goddard says James Hird had the capacity to be a “great coach” but was undone by one of his greatest strengths — his ability to delegate at Essendon.
And while Goddard had admitted “disgraceful” governance failures at Essendon, he remains furious at the way Essendon’s players were treated by the AFL and ASADA.
Goddard says senior AFL figures “lied” to him and reneged on assurances to the Essendon players about how the process would play out if they told the truth.
A special Herald Sun investigation in 2017 revealed the AFL suggested there was a “99 per cent chance players won’t be charged” if they agreed to governance penalties and were booted from the finals, but instead players faced the full force of ASADA, WADA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Hird lured Goddard to Essendon for the 2013 season and while he was suspended in 2014 he returned before being sacked late in 2015.
Goddard is unsure whether Hird will ever return to the coaching landscape but told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast he didn’t use the word “great” lightly.
“I know when he was coach he had the potential to be great. He had no prior experience, he was one of those experiments like Vossy (Michael Voss). Bucks (Nathan Buckley) did a little bit thorough AIS (and Collingwood), Hirdy walked straight into the role of senior coach.
“He admitted it, he said ‘I am still learning on the job’ but he was smart enough to realise what was important and about relationships, great footy IQ, good communicator with the guys.
“He would sit next to them and walk around the plane on interstate trips and sit next to everyone, and I firmly believe he had the potential to be a great coach and I don’t use that term lightly.
“During the time the governance issues were clearly a disgrace.
“I defend Hirdy. Hirdy is a great man but one of his great strengths and one of the weaknesses of other coaches is the ability to delegate.
“Ross (Lyon) was a control freak. Hirdy, I can see how that can happen. I wasn’t there but he was about relationships and about footy. And that was his great strength.
“He said you guys deal with that and yes, he should have been across it but I defend him because to dumb it down, two rogue individuals in (Stephen) Dank and the Weapon (Dean Robinson) destroy Essendon. They have the ability to do that and that’s what happened.”
Essendon chairman David Evans agreed to “self-report” the club’s issues after secret discussions with senior AFL figures.
The AFL conveniently found a way to allow Essendon to play the 2013 season before booting them from the finals at the most convenient time.
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Goddard made headlines when he once fired off a tweet in response to an article which had quoted commission boss Mike Fitzpatrick saying he was “comfortable” with the AFL’s handling of the Essendon saga.
Goddard responded with: “Whatever helps you sleep at night”.
Says Goddard of that tweet: “It just went off. Just because I know the details and what they said and what they reneged on and what guys at the AFL told me face to face and then lied to me.
“They said things to certain people at high powers at the footy club and that didn’t go ahead and then lied about this.
“So I am not going to talk about anything specifically and that was the agenda the whole way through. And that’s why it wasn’t a fair trial, it wasn’t a fair outcome. There is so much mud.
“All the boys morally did the right thing and told the truth and in the end, s*** I wish they had lied because they would have got off.
“And the way it was dealt with from all parties — the footy club, ASADA, WADA, AFL — it’s embarrassing.
“And it annoys you that they are doing this just to get the outcome they want regardless of whether it’s right or wrong. So that is deep down what annoys you the most.”
