By Jake Niall
Essendon president David Barham is urging the club’s members to back him to finish the job he started two years ago as he faces a contested board election involving two premiership players.
Barham is up for re-election, with voting starting on Tuesday, in an election in which five people, including Barham, are vying for just two board positions.
Essendon president David Barham is up for re-election.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Among the challengers are two ex-players – 1984-85 premiership player Paul Weston and 2000 defender Dean Solomon. Director Melissa Verner Green is also facing the members, while member Luke Maxfield is another contesting.
Barham stressed his connection with senior coach Brad Scott and chief executive Craig Vozzo – both of whom were installed after Barham took over the presidency in the board coup that led to coach Ben Rutten’s removal.
“I’m preaching stability, unity and alignment because that’s what we need,” Barham told this masthead. “We need that to be successful. So I would like the chance to finish what we started.”
Barham sympathised with Essendon fans who had endured 20 years without a finals win. This lack of success had prompted him to take over the presidency in 2022.
“So what I say them [the fans] is [I] totally understand ... I’ve felt that way myself. But you can’t hold the people that are in there now – Brad Scott, Craig Vozzo especially, responsible for what’s happened the last 20 years,” he said.
“Those two, in particular, they weren’t here in 2015 when [WADA took the drugs saga to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and] it went wrong, they weren’t here in 2007 [when Kevin Sheedy’s time as coach came to an end]. It’s irrelevant.
“What’s relevant now is we put all our effort in to make sure we build a club that’s going to give us that sustained success.
“All I can say is we’ve got 20 years of history of taking quick fixes and shortcuts and it hasn’t worked. So what we have to do now is have the courage to do the work and stay the course.”
He conceded that trading out draft picks to bring in senior players Adam Saad, Jake Stringer, Devon Smith and Dylan Shiel from 2017-19, in a push for a flag, had failed. Only Shiel remains.
Dylan Shiel is still a Bomber.Credit: AFL Photos
“If you look back now with hindsight, that was a mistake. So we gave up too many draft picks, on the advice to the board was that we were close ... with hindsight, we weren’t.
“So you’ve got to learn your lessons, which is how we’re in the draft ...
“You also now compound that with Joe Daniher, Adam Saad, Fantasia and Conor McKenna all leaving at the end of 2020.”
He said Scott had taken a long-term approach with the Bombers’ list rather than protecting his position.
“But he could’ve this year gone [said] I’m not trading Stringer, I want Dan Houston, pick nine will get us Dan Houston, load up his list, got to win games. But he’s taken a bigger picture view of the club ... and he’s been selfless and for that I’m very grateful.”
‘We haven’t had stability for a long time’
Barham, who took over the presidency late in 2022, said stability was paramount for the Bombers and that he hoped to hand over in an orderly succession.
“You can’t be successful if you haven’t got stability,” he said.
“The second is alignment, which is critical, and the alignment comes between the key people in the club and I’ve got a great relationship with Brad Scott, I’ve got a really good relationship with Craig Vozzo and the three of us get on really well and we’re aligned on how we think.
“And the last thing you need is unity. I don’t think you can be a successful club without those three things.
“So we haven’t had stability for a long time, we’re getting it now after two years of pretty much the leaking at the club’s stopped, the culture’s improved. I think it’s a much better club, we’ve now got alignment.
“The unity is what we’ve got to work on all the way through. Everyone in the club has to stay united because if you don’t stay united, and you tear yourself down, you’ll end up nowhere.
“So I think I can play a significant role in keeping those three things together, and I’ve got three more years left that I can. I want to do it and then I want to have a proper succession plan.”
Barham said Essendon’s board had a policy of not endorsing candidates.
“[You’ve got] Paul Weston and Dean Solomon who are both really good people, you’ve got Melissa Verner Green who has been on the board who’s a great person and a guy called Luke Maxfield, who I don’t know, but good on him for having a go.
“I congratulate anyone who wants to have a go because it’s a volunteer role.”
Given that there were only two spots, Barham said his position as president was in the hands of the members.
“It’s their club. I’m very happy for them to look at what I’ve done or where I’m at and what’s happened,” he said.
Former player Dean Solomon is running for a spot on the board.Credit: Getty Images
Barham, whose limit of 12 years as a director runs out at the end of 2027, when this three-year term would end, said he would not serve as president the entire time.
“I imagine I will try and go two years at least and then there will be a transition ... you want to have a six-month transition because you want to have something where you can really hand it over properly.”
He said Essendon had just completed a review of board operations, begun partway through the season, by Board Partners’ Jane Stuchberry. The review reinforced the need for a mix of board skills, such as having King’s Counsel, Tony Howard. Vice president and ex-player Andrew Welsh was “probably the favourite” to succeed Barham.
On the prospect of having three ex-players on the board, he said: “I don’t think it’s ideal but it’s not my decision. It’s the members’ ... we need all sorts of different skills.”
Club legend Kevin Sheedy, who is stepping down from the board, will remain a paid ambassador.
‘I will never bag Adrian’
Barham was asked about former list manager Adrian Dodoro’s exit and his action against the club in the Fair Work Commission, which was settled with a reported six-figure payment.
“I can’t [talk] about what happened but we ran a two-year handover process for Adrian to Matt Rosa. Essentially, we followed through with that. It was a plan to bring Matt [Rosa] in as a handover,” Barham said.
“I will never bag Adrian. Adrian’s a life member of the footy club and as president of the footy club, he’s put a lot of work in to the footy club ... whether you like him or don’t like him, he’s committed a lot of his life to this footy club. So I’ll always have a lot of respect for Adrian.
Former list boss Adrian Dodoro.Credit: AFL Photos
“But at the same time I think we’ve got a really good recruiting manager in Matt Rosa for the future, I think we’ve got some improved processes, I think we’ve got a better spread of people across the board and I think Craig Vozzo’s made a big impact, because he’s come in and seen that we need more help in recruiting.
“And I think now that our planning is better. I think we have now a longer-term strategic plan. I think we’ve gone from – in some ways I think we picked best available. I think we’re picking now ‘what do we need’ and what’s our list need in three years.
“It’s really about identifying what we need. You don’t want to have too many midfielders, you don’t want to have too many small forwards.”
‘Players don’t come to bad clubs’
Barham said Essendon’s improved culture under Scott, who had been critical of standards, was evident in the re-signing of Mason Redman, Andrew McGrath and Jordan Ridley.
“One of the most gratifying things for me was Mason Redman re-signing halfway through the next year ... he said ‘had this been 12 months ago, I wouldn’t have re-signed’.”
He said stability would help attract players. “You’ve got to have stability, and you’ve got to have unity and all those other things because players don’t come to bad clubs.”
He said captain Zach Merrett was working on his leadership, having gone to the US for development with Scott and McGrath. No one wanted to win a flag more than Merrett, said Barham.
He took responsibility for the hiring and immediate resignation of former NAB boss Andrew Thorburn as CEO, as “poor process”.
“Looking back I learnt an enormous amount and it’s my responsibility ... It was unfortunate.”
Voting opens at 9am on Tuesday, December 3 and closes on Tuesday, December 17. The results will be confirmed at Essendon’s annual general meeting on December 18.
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