John Worsfold brings home a succession plan for Bombers
John Worsfold’s plan is to expose his replacement Ben Rutten to every aspect of being an senior coach to ensure he is ready for 2021.
It was the decision John Worsfold knew he was always going to have to make.
As much as he loves coaching Essendon and as much as his passion for the game is unwavering, his family was always going to override both at some stage.
Ever since his wife Georgina, and their three 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 would prove too much.
The trips to and from Perth when the schedule or school holidays allowed, the lengthy phone calls, and the FaceTime chats were crucial in keeping the family connected. His eldest daughter moved back to Melbourne last week, which has helped, too.
But as disciplined as the family has been — seeing each other at least every three weeks in that time — nothing has been able to replace the struggle of living apart.
“It’s hard not seeing them every day, like you would when you are at home,” Worsfold explained.
That’s why he locked in an August 1 arrangement meeting each year with Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell, separate from his coaching contract.
“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 about it 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.
Serious discussions about a coaching succession plan — a concept that has had mixed success in AFL — were parked until the end of the Bombers’ 2019 campaign, which rounded out with a 55-point elimination finals 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 added.
“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.”
Further post-season discussions with the man who will ultimately replace him as senior coach, Ben Rutten, with Campbell, as well as coaching staff and players, helped to frame the Worsfold succession plan.
He framed the plan his way — for the sake of all involved, especially for the long-term benefit of the club he has come to love. “I know what I am setting up here,” he said. “We are all on the same page and I can tell you it is working well.”
Worsfold’s plan is to expose Rutten to every aspect of being a senior coach this year to ensure he is ready for 2021.
“I will go on record as saying it (the succession plan) 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 as Essendon senior coach.”
Worsfold is loving the current dynamic, saying he is busier than ever, and working closely with the other assistant coaches on their development, while Rutten and assistant coach Blake Caracella have been working closely with the players on the game plan.
He defends his approach of being at ground level on game day.
“I did it from about round five 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. “I am excited by what lies ahead,” he 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 preference to use handball to break the lines.
“Cara (Caracella) and Ben’s most recent coaching experience comes out of Richmond,” he said. “But Ben also draws on what he learnt from Neil Craig, and I know Cara draws a lot of what he has learnt at his other clubs.”
Asked how he has changed since he was a young tearaway with West Coast in 1987, Worsfold says: “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.”
HERALD SUN
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