John Worsfold flags a rise to the top for Essendon

JOHN Worsfold was recruited to bring stability to Essendon but says the aim was always to win a premiership, and he opens up on Jake Stringer’s risky recruitment, Brendon Goddard’s outbursts and last year’s meek finals exit.

Essendon coach John Worsfold is building a squad that can deliver the Bombers a premiership. Picture: Michael Klein

JOHN Worsfold has been around the block too many times for bulldust and weasel words.

In three decades in the game he has seen every imaginable circumstance that might confront an AFL coach.

He has won and lost premierships as a coach and player, endured the Ben Cousins saga at West Coast and ASADA fallout at Essendon and helped a city grieve after Adelaide coach Phil Walsh’s passing.

So when the Herald Sun asks Worsfold if Essendon has recruited for a premiership, he cuts to the quick.

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If you adon’t aspire to a premiership, then why the hell are you in the hot seat?

“That is exactly what we are recruiting for,” Worsfold said in an interview that will also be broadcast on Fox Footy.

“The timeline is unknown but we expect we have made our squad better this year.

“Now we have to get it to jell. But that is what you are all about — to build a team to be able to compete really strongly and aim to play deep into the finals.

“That has been the aim from when I started at Essendon. We knew the road would be a little different (considering he still had 12 players were banned by ASADA) but it was still heading in the right direction.

“Everything has been put in place to build a squad that is able to play a lot of footy together over a number of years and be very successful.

“The core of our list are 23-25 and they will play a fair bit of footy together. They are talented enough to be having a crack at winning a lot of finals.”

John Worsfold says the Bombers are aiming for the premiership. Picture: Michael Klein

Jake Stringer’s risky recruitment, Brendon Goddard’s outbursts, Joe Daniher’s goalkicking, Andrew McGrath’s new role — “Woosher” has strong opinions on all of that.

Worsfold, who turns 50 in Grand Final week, knows it is one thing to talk a big game about flags and another to put in place the building blocks to get there.

But before we cast ahead to why this team might be able to one day lift the cup, it is worth revisiting last year’s finals capitulation.

A team that has not won a final since 2004 again lowered its colours, this time in a crushing 65-point defeat at the hands of Sydney.

The midfield was beaten up, Michael Hurley was annihilated by Callum Sinclair (three goals, four contested marks), the Bombers looked frightened and reactive. They trailed by 61 points at the long break.

Yet for all the lessons from that game — and there are plenty — Worsfold says he can still put that loss into perspective.

“We did a lot wrong in that we didn’t have the energy going into that game, the ability to compete like we wanted to,” he said.

“We lost Cale Hooker and (Josh) Green going into that final, we had Hurley coming back off injury and he was really hanging in there to finish the season.

“We had (Orazio) Fantasia back after five weeks out. We were nowhere near our best, limping into the final and it showed.”

The Bombers have taken a risk recruiting Jake Stringer. Picture: Michael Klein

He has no regrets about playing All-Australian defender Hurley, with Fantasia also unsighted early before improving when the game was already over.

“You can’t go into a final expecting to compete against a really good team carrying players or with players fatiguing,’’ Worsfold said.

“But there were still a lot of players really disappointed with the way they performed individually.

“So that’s been our focus. We can take our footy to the next level and we have to if we want to win finals.”

The plans to jump to the next level centre around personnel and strategy.

Jobe Watson and James Kelly are gone from that finals side, with recruits Jake Stringer, Devon Smith and Adam Saad appreciably improving the club’s best 22.

Given the capacity for improvement in Daniher, Fantasia, McGrath, Kyle Langford, Conor McKenna, James Stewart, Darcy Parish and others, the future looks bright.

Just don’t expect Worsfold to slavishly copy rival game plans.

Essendon will play quick, attacking footy and it will attempt to ramp up its defensive pressure.

Michael Hurley was well beaten in the elimination final against Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard

But if rivals believe it needs one more strong-bodied mid, Worsfold is more than happy with the onball core.

“We have still got David Myers, we have put a lot of work into Kyle Langford as a developing mid and Stringer as well. That’s adequate,’’ he said.

“We have well and truly got enough of what you would say are the big-sized midfielders.

“Then we have got some super smaller talent running through there in (Zach) Merrett, (David) Zaharakis, Devon Smith, Darcy Parish and Andy McGrath.

“We are pretty happy with the mix. It’s been a very strong focus on saying we don’t have those big-bodied mids, but I think we have still got the blend that will well and truly match it with clubs.”

On recent evidence Stringer is a huge risk.

Why would a club just out of a hellish, four-year drug storm take a chance on a player who has battled issues including adultery, gambling, a poor workrate and divisiveness with teammates.

“We did a lot of research into where Jake is at, what he wants to get out of his footy career, where his life is at,” Worsfold said.

“We understand its been a rocky road for him. It’s been very tough. But he is very clear on where he wants to get to now.

“He wants a stable life. He dotes over his kids and he’s committed to being the best player he can be.

“We think we can assist him in what he is trying to achieve and assist him in his personal goals, as well.”

Essendon was ranked only 12th for points against last year, which means the forward line will try harder to keep the ball in and a defensive intent will flow across the ground.

“We still want to play a really attacking, exciting brand of footy and be a good scoring team,” Worsfold said.

“You need to score to win the flag. But defensively we have to get better. We are adjusting some things and the players want to embrace it. I think we will be a lot better defensively in 2018.”

But it is the stars who bring the fans into the stadium, and at Essendon none shine brighter than Joe Daniher.

Following a knee injury that meant he did almost no goalkicking last pre-season, he kicked a stunning 52.23 from Round 7 onwards.

But can he be expected to continue at that rate?

“If you want to be a champion footballer, you have to master your skills and that’s a focus for Joey,” Worsfold said.

“Sometimes in sport you are working on stuff and it doesn’t happen overnight.

“But he didn’t have a lot of kicking or shots at goal in the pre-season and you could say the early part of the season was almost his pre-season in terms of kicking at goal.

“He has said it’s going to be ongoing and he will never get to the position where he doesn’t have to work on it.”

Joe Daniher’s goalkicking improved last season. Picture: Michael Klein

If Daniher is the golden child, veteran Goddard is Essendon’s polarising presence.

Second in last year’s best-and-fairest in a packed field, he is still prone to emotional outbursts and plays the easy kick-behind-the-play role.

Worsfold fiercely defends both his role and his passion, most noticeable when he dramatically swept a box of pretzels off a table mid-year.

“It does polarise people. But it’s not being petulant, it’s just disappointment we are not playing our best,” Worsfold said.

“If it was over minor things, if they were individual annoyances for Brendon and his focus was on what was right for him we would certainly be suggesting he needs to change his attitude.

“But he does lash out and his passion is to see the Essendon footy club win finals.

“I am sure he would like to be known as a premiership player. I love the fact he’s looking to help us.

“We saw it once last year when he lashed out and we are acutely aware of what drives him.”

Worsfold says Goddard still covers the ground as well as any elite wingman, the 32-year-old fulfilling the exact role asked of him.

“He can really help us deliver the ball out of the backline with accuracy and we can use him as an inside mid. He continues to play a really solid role for us.”

Brendon Goddard’s emotional outbursts can polarise fans. Picture: AAP

So as Essendon’s campaign kicks off today with a JLT clash against Richmond in Wangaratta, does Worsfold look across the field and wonder if it is Essendon’s turn,

especially after the Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership showed fairytales are not so improbable in the AFL?

“Yeah, we don’t necessarily look at it for those two,” Worsfold said.

“The focus is how good we can become.

“We need to fill some recruiting gaps to open up a long-term window of success, which you hope delivers you premierships.

“We are envious of all teams good enough to win a premiership. The Dogs and Richmond launched themselves just as Hawthorn’s dominance dipped a bit.

“Good luck to them. But the focus for Essendon is to get ourselves into a position now to have a crack at it.”

JOHN Worsfold’s interview will be shown on Fox Footy during today’s Essendon-Richmond contest.