Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell says John Worsfold will coach Bombers next season

After mounting speculation over the future of John Worsfold, Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell has moved to provide certainty over the coach’s job for next season.

John Worsfold, Senior Coach of the Essendon Bombers.

Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell has guaranteed John Worsfold will coach the club next season.

Campbell said on Sunday the club had reviewed aspects of the football department over the past six weeks and agreed Worsfold should remain in charge.

Worsfold has faced mounting scrutiny on his position throughout the season despite having a contract for next year.

The Bombers were bundled out of the finals in a 55-point loss to West Coast in Perth on Thursday night.

But Campbell dismissed the calls for change, saying Worsfold was the right man to lead the club as part of a bolstered coaching staff next season.

After adding defensive guru Ben Rutten last year, the Bombers have already secured Richmond ball movement specialist Blake Caracella for 2020.

“John will be coaching Essendon next year,” Campbell said.

“We are like a lot of clubs who are reviewing how our season has gone and we have been for the past six weeks.

“There a whole range of initiatives that we want to put in place.”

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While Essendon great Matthew Lloyd said Worsfold should hand over more control of the game style to his assistants, Campbell said the senior coach and the club were on the same page about their plans.

Essendon has not won a final in 15 years.

But after recovering from the dreaded supplements scandal, the Bombers are hopeful of continuing their climb up the ladder next season under Worsfold.

“I have never felt that had ever been anything but alignment with John and the club. I feel like there is good opportunity moving forward for our football club,” Campbell said on Channel 7.

Bombers board member and club legend Simon Madden said after the elimination final defeat: “If you think what John’s worked with this year, we didn’t have our best-and-fairest winner from last year, we didn’t have our leading goalkicker, one game we had to make 10 changes, one game there was six changes, and we haven’t played our best footy and we still made the finals.

“To me what our footy club needs is a coach who has been there for a while, who is very stable, very cool, calm and collected, and knows how to bring the players together, and I think we’ve got the right coach to do that.”

Essendon’s VFL team defeated Werribee by three points in the semi final to book a preliminary final berth.

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After the loss Worsfold predicted a bright future for the Bombers whether he’s at the helm or not.

“Well I’ve got a contract, that’s as much an assurance as I have,” Worsfold said.

“What else could you ask for? If the question is if I’m confident, does it really matter how confident I am because I’m not the decision-maker. I’m really confident with what I’ve built with this group and where we’re currently placed, and their ability to go forward.

“I’m really pleased with what we’ve done to date but where it is going forward, I’m more than willing and keen to continue on building this group. I really respect them and enjoy working with them.”

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Many were expecting big things from Essendon in 2019 and scraping into the eight and losing an elimination final by 55 points might be seen by some as underachieving.

But after fielding an inexperienced team against the reigning premiers, Worsfold has no question about how bright the future is for Essendon.

“They (fans) will be disappointed that we weren’t good enough to beat the reigning premiers over here, like we all are, but really proud of the group,” Worsfold said.

“What we’ve dealt with over the last month in particular with injuries to guys and the way Michael Hurley got out there and played over the last month. The work that the captain (Dyson Heppell) has done just to be available for us and to perform with real heart, they should be proud of that.

“They should be excited about what the group is building and I think they are going to see Essendon grow into becoming a very strong team for a lot of years to come.

“I wouldn’t say I’m upbeat, I’m pretty flat that the season is finished.”