Essendon might regret re-signing John Worsfold so early in year, says Robert Walls

CARLTON premiership great Robert Walls believes Essendon could have become the latest AFL club to hurriedly re-sign a senior coach, well before the end of his original contract.

Bombers coach John Worsfold.

CARLTON premiership great Robert Walls believes Essendon could have become the latest AFL club to hurriedly — and mistakenly — re-sign a senior coach well before the end of his standing contract.

Essendon coach Worsfold was originally contracted until the end of the 2018 season. But the Bombers in late March announced that Worsfold had signed a two-year contract extension, which ties him to the Bombers until at least the end of the 2020 season.

Yet Worsfold’s brigade has endured a sluggish start to their 2018 campaign, dropping to 14th on the ladder with a 2-4 record.

Walls, who coached 156 VFL/AFL games, hinted that the Bombers could regret their decision to re-sign Worsfold so early in the year.

“I’m always wary of coaches having contracts extended when their current contract hasn’t come through — and that was the case with John Worsfold and it’s the case with a lot of coaches,” Walls told Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight.

“Clubs, they get a bit nervous. But to be honest, not too many clubs are going to have their coaches poached.

Bombers head coach John Worsfold.

“I think they fall for the trap of extending contracts and they say ‘it takes the pressure off the club, it takes the pressure off the coach. But if the coach isn’t getting results, you can have hefty payouts.”

Walls’ comments were echoed by Mark Robinson on AFL 360 Extra last Friday.

The Bombers capitulated after half-time against Melbourne on Sunday, conceding 12 goals to their five to go down by six goals.

Walls said part of the reason behind the Bombers’ poor record of late was their inability to keep the ball in their forward half.

Essendon is ranked 15th in the competition for both time in forward half and forward-half intercepts, while it’s the AFL’s worst team for creating forward-half stoppages.

And that wasn’t helped by an array of tall players.

“You look at Richmond and the successful teams, they lock the ball into their forward half and they’re able to score,” Walls said.

“But Essendon (against Melbourne), they were too top-heavy. They had (Joe) Daniher down there, they’ve had (Tom) Bellchambers down there, (Cale) Hooker was down there for a long time, James Stewart is not a player that gets a lot at ground level.

“They’ve just got too much tall timber in that forward line, so it gets run out far too easily.”

Originally published as Essendon might regret re-signing John Worsfold so early in year, says Robert Walls