David Barham could yet be granted his stated wish of luring an experienced senior coach to Essendon despite Ross Lyon’s early and definitive call to rule himself out of the job.
Lyon’s view that the vibe was not right at Essendon is one generally shared across the football landscape but senior coaching jobs at big AFL clubs don’t come along every season. For all its pitfalls it remains an intoxicating mix of risk versus reward – not exclusively but significantly financial – with the added promise of exhilaration only the greatest of team sports can deliver.
Adem Yze, left, is considered a front-runner.Credit: Getty Images
James Hird spoke recently also of the enrichment gained in working with young people. Hird, despite everything, still remains open to senior coaching; an opportunity which should not be denied to him for life but will not take place at Essendon this time around. Having dipped his toe back into the water in a part-time sense, Hird must serve a decent apprenticeship at another club to have any chance of a senior comeback.
Football boss Josh Mahoney, having been backed in by Barham despite the forces at the club well known to all who have conspired against him in recent months, last weekend contacted Lyon, Brad Scott, Don Pyke and Leon Cameron of the experienced possible candidates.
Despite some reluctance and despite his position on a seeming upward trajectory at the AFL ,Scott remains in Essendon’s eyes a strong and attractive candidate. Like Scott, Pyke too has not definitively knocked back taking part in a process further down the track but seems more likely to remain at the Swans, while Cameron has reached a deal with Sydney to oversee the club’s academy. He has told the Swans he would only walk away from that deal should a senior coaching role become his.
Adem Yze, coaching under Simon Goodwin at Melbourne, is a front-runner, with Fremantle’s Jaymie Graham the best-credentialled of the other assistants. Highly regarded by at least one panellist, Jordan Lewis, Yze’s pedigree and performance under premiership coaches looks impressive despite having been pipped by Adam Kingsley for the Giants job last month.
The AFL general manager of football Brad Scott.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Mahoney has not approached Ken Hinkley, but the Bombers have not definitively ruled him out either. Should the club be unsatisfied with what sits before it in senior coaching terms within the coming fortnight do not rule out a mission to extract Hinkley from Port Adelaide, where he remains contracted for another year.
Whether Barham will stick by his original comments regarding senior coaching experience, the reality is that whoever takes on the job requires besides tactical brilliance, a strong personality coupled with extensive people skills. Unwinding the thicket of outside influences for too long empowered at Essendon is no job for the introverted or faint-hearted. This is why candidates such as Scott and even the seemingly unavailable Hinkley remain in contention despite their current roles.
Either way the bigger task facing Barham is just how he responds to the first serious external review run by Essendon since Ziggy Switkowski’s famous and largely unwelcome assessment nine years ago of the infamous drugs program. And who he manages to lure to the club as chief executive.
Ross Lyon.Credit: Getty Images
There is a mounting argument backed across the competition that the strength and experience required to coach the club and handle the factions is more crucial when it comes to selecting Xavier Campbell’s replacement. Extroverted leaders intent on unity have never been more important, particularly in the cavernous outpost Essendon now calls home.
Travis Auld, who is in the running for Gillon McLachlan’s job, loomed as a top prospect and should probably have been appointed when Peter Jackson departed Essendon at the end of 2009, but looks unlikely to return there now.
The stronger push is for Brisbane Lions boss Greg Swann. Still highly respected for the part he played in the resurgence of Collingwood, Swann looked headed for more success when Dick Pratt headhunted him, but he left Carlton disillusioned and a factional target with nowhere to turn after the Mick Malthouse debacle. Installed by McLachlan at a shambolic Gabba eight years ago, Swann’s long list of achievements on and off the field ultimately united the Lions and oversaw their regular return to September.
Former NAB chief Andrew Thorburn and a team from Ernst and Young are weeks into their assessment of the club. Not only have they interviewed players and numerous officials, but also a number of former senior staff headed by Campbell and also outgoing president Paul Brasher and the former football director Simon Madden, who fought to honour Ben Rutten’s contract.
If all of the above have delivered honest assessments of how Essendon must move forward then it is difficult to envisage the survival of some senior football staffers, with Kevin Sheedy staying on as a director long term. Essendon, famously tough on outsiders and far too forgiving of favourite sons, owe at least that to the new coach who cannot hope to succeed with one hand tied behind his back and a head being forced to turn in too many directions.
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