John Worsfold opens up on Essendon’s succession plan, his final year at the Bombers and being away from his family
Succession plans have a mixed history in the AFL. But what makes John Worsfold so confident Essendon’s will work? Go inside the key meetings that led to the Bombers signing off on the Ben Rutten handover.
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John Worsfold always knew he was going to have to make the decision.
As much as he loves coaching Essendon, and as unwavering is his passion for the game, his family was always going to override both at some stage.
Ever since his wife Georgina and their children Sophie, 23, Charlie, 18, and Grace, 16, returned to Perth at the end of the 2017 season, it was a matter of when, not if, the tyranny of distance proved too great.
The trips to and from Perth when the schedule or school holidays allowed, the lengthy phone calls, and the FaceTime chats kept the family connected. His eldest daughter moved back to Melbourne last week, which has helped.
But as disciplined as the family has been — seeing each other at least every three weeks — living apart has been a struggle.
“It’s hard not seeing them every day, like you would when you are at home,” Worsfold said.
That’s why he locked in an August 1 meeting each year with Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell.
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“I had a handshake deal with Xavier that by the first of August every year — since my family moved back to Perth — that I would make a commitment on whether I was moving back to Perth or staying,” Worsfold said.
“We’ve been doing that for three years.
“As we got closer to that date every year, I would think about how I am going and whether I could still do it, and then talk to my family and see how they were going. In the end we would always make a family decision.”
Worsfold reached a different answer on August 1 last year, telling Campbell just two days before the club’s Round 20 loss to Port Adelaide.
“When we got to the first of August (in 2019), that was the time to say, ‘Xavier, I reckon I can do one more year, (but it is) highly unlikely after that. So it is up to you what that might look like’,” he said.
Discussions on a coaching succession plan — a concept that has had mixed success in the AFL — were parked until the end of the 2019 campaign, which ended with a 55-point elimination final defeat at the hands of West Coast.
“We didn’t really talk about it until the season was finished, then we started addressing it through September and October,” Worsfold said.
“That went down well as we didn’t have any distraction throughout the course of finishing our footy season.
“I came here to do a job. We’re getting to a point where I’m comfortable with where the coaching group is at, and where the club is at in a footy department sense.
“My family responsibilities are growing all the time. They have given up a lot and I have given up a lot. I don’t think we could continue to do that indefinitely.”
Post-season talks with the man who will replace him as senior coach, Ben Rutten, and Campbell — as well as other coaches and players — helped to frame the Worsfold succession plan.
“I know what I am setting up here,” Worsfold said. “We are all on the same page, and I can tell you it is working well.”
His plan is to expose Rutten to every aspect of being a senior coach to ensure he is ready for 2021.
“I will go on record as saying it will work. Ben will be in a better place to coach the team next year than he would be if we didn’t do this,” he said.
“The sole measure for me on whether this is going to be successful or not is going to be how well Ben Rutten is prepared for a long and successful career.”
Worsfold is loving the dynamic, saying he is busier than ever, and working closely with the assistant coaches on their development, while Rutten and assistant coach Blake Caracella have worked with the players on the game plan.
He can’t understand why some critics queried why a senior coach would be based at ground level on game day.
“I did it from about Round 5 last year, so there is actually no change,” he said.
“I thought we managed it really well last year.
“Ben and the (assistant) coaches are in the coaches’ box doing their stuff. I am on the bench looking at it from a ground-view sense and interacting with the players coming on and off the ground.
“From my perspective, the communication from a coach-to-player perspective during a quarter is way better than it has ever been.”
He was buoyed by Essendon’s two performances in the pre-season series, which surprised the pundits, many of whom are tipping the Bombers to fall out of the eight.
“I am excited by what lies ahead,” Worsfold said.
“We are going to have some challenges along the way.
“Some of the experts aren’t putting us in that top five or six (bracket), but we think it is close enough to say that if we manage the group well enough and grab our opportunities, we can outperform some of those predictions.”
There was a look of Richmond about the Bombers in the pre-season, given their use of handball to break the lines.
“Cara (Caracella) and Ben’s most recent coaching experience comes out of Richmond,” Worsfold said. “But Ben also draws on what he learnt from Neil Craig, and I know Cara draws on a lot of what he has learnt at his other clubs.”
Worsfold knows the fact that Essendon has not won a final since 2004 provides mirth for rival fans, but says that will change.
“For a variety of reasons, this club hasn’t won a final in a long time. But there have been a lot of factors involved,” he said. “Our aim has been to remove those factors. Finals wins will come, there is no doubt about that.
“We might throw it back against the opposition. If you are playing Essendon in a final, don’t be the first to lose to them — you are going to be under all sorts of heat.”
Worsfold says his proudest achievement as coach has been the way the club has matured since he took over in late 2015, just before the supplements suspensions that crippled the club in 2016.
“The players have trust in the club and trust in the group,” he said. “We’ve attracted players from other clubs.
“Players and player managers are too smart to go to clubs where they don’t think it is a good environment. For the work we put in for two or three years to turn that around, and to have players put up their hands to join Essendon, I think that is the biggest indicator that we have moved a long way forward.”
Asked how he had changed since he was a young tearaway with West Coast in 1987, Worsfold said: “I was a young nerd back then. Now I’m an old nerd.
“I have learnt so much through all my different environments and circumstances. It’s been a great ride so far.”
WORSFOLD ON:
CONOR McKENNA’S RETURN
We could have either forced him to come back and hold him to his contract and he is miserable — which was not going to make us a better club — or we could talk through the issues and help and support him. We looked at how we could work with him and get him to really enjoy his footy. We worked through that, and it is ongoing.
ZACH MERRETT’S LESSONS AFTER MISSING OUT ON THE LEADERSHIP GROUP
He has adjusted his leadership. Being the driven young man he is, Zach was one of the first to say, ‘What can I learn out of this?’ He really wanted to understand the process, so he could know what the data was telling him. Then he could put a plan in place to improve himself as a leader on and off the field.
WHETHER JOE DANIHER AND ORAZIO FANTASIA WILL STAY
I DON’T want them to stay here (only) because we are going to put pressure on them and throw more money at them. Joe had that feeling last year (about leaving). I don’t think it was concrete with him. He was going through a pretty tough period (with injuries). The aim is to get him in a lot better place this year. That way he will be able to make a call about his footy and where he wants to play. (It’s the) same with Orazio.
WHEN CAPTAIN DYSON HEPPELL WILL RETURN
I CAN’T put a timeline on when he will be playing. But suffice to say as soon as he feels as though he can run flat out, he will be playing, because he’s had a solid lot of work. Our focus is to get him back as soon as possible. He has no doubt learnt that surgery doesn’t fix everything immediately, there can be complications.
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THE CHARITY HE HELPED DEVELOP
IT’S called On My Feet. We started it about five years ago and it is to support homeless people or people who are at serious threat of homelessness. It is not about giving them handouts, but giving them a hand up. It is about trying to provide some physical exercise, whether that is joining a walking community, or a running group, because a lot of them feel isolated. We give them the beep test, we test their vertical leap, we set up training programs, and even do cooking classes. The website is onmyfeet.org.au — we’ve had three or four people who were living on the streets who have now run marathons.