Essendon has an opportunity to make a clean break in the next few weeks.
With the AFL’s player exchange period imminent and three big-name Bombers – Joe Daniher, Adam Saad and Orazio Fantasia – announcing they want out, the default reaction is: “What a disaster!”
For all football boss Dan Richardson’s belief Essendon is still “a big club”, the truth is the Bombers have largely been irrelevant on-field for the best part of two decades.
Failing to win a single final since 2004 is one of the most damning streaks in Essendon’s mostly proud history. The Bombers have qualified for finals only nine times post their 2000 premiership.
Parts of the club’s fanbase were so triggered by the drought they hounded an individual off Twitter who dared to create an account logging how many days it’s been since that postseason triumph.
(For the record, the count’s reached 5897 days)
There was also the confusing dynamic between Ben Rutten and John Worsfold, who was technically the coach this year despite Essendon announcing 12 months ago that Rutten would assume the job from 2021.
However, there is another way of viewing these developments rather than just through the doom-and-gloom lens.
Daniher (Brisbane), Saad (Carlton) and Fantasia (Port Adelaide) will play for rival teams next year, while Conor McKenna is already kicking a Gaelic football around back home in Ireland.
Three of that quartet proved major distractions in the past two years, while Saad’s desperation to depart Tullamarine resulted in further negative headlines and leaked gripes about his playing role.
Daniher’s barely played because of injuries since his 2017 All-Australian campaign and unsuccessfully requested a trade to Sydney last year.
This time he’s a restricted free agent, so he’ll get his wish to join the Lions, even if it gets a bit messy.
Daniher’s the biggest loss here – key forwards like him don’t grow on trees – but he’s also long been the elephant in the room. It’s time for everyone to move on.
Fantasia’s been injury prone, too, but it’s his want to return to South Australia that’s been the source of most problems.
Last year’s antics, where he dragged out his playing future through the Trade Period, including replacing his agent with a South Australian one, screamed of attention-seeking behaviour.
As for McKenna, he copped a raw deal with the coverage of him as the sole AFL footballer to contract COVID-19.
However, he became increasingly difficult in the last two years – highlighted in him demanding to play as a forward, and sneakily playing a Gaelic game during the last off-season – before he finally retired.
More drama will play out across the coming weeks as Essendon’s long-serving list boss, Adrian Dodoro, takes centre stage to assume his alter ego as Trade Period villain.
Dodoro expects a huge return for each of Daniher, Saad and Fantasia, with his demand list for Saad drawing sniggers after a media outlet found out about it a fortnight ago.
Emerging Blues Charlie Curnow, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay reportedly all came up. Dodoro is almost a parody of himself these days and his position should also be under review.
At the same time, he plans to secure Giant Jye Caldwell – who’s nominated the Bombers – and contracted Bulldog Josh Dunkley despite not being allowed to trade their 2020 first-round draft pick.
Whatever Dodoro scores for Daniher, Saad and Fantasia will go towards those bids, but counterparts are privately wondering how they’ll pull off any potential Dunkley deal.
The Dogs are also defiant so far in saying they won’t give Dunkley up.
More important for the Bombers is they embrace the chance to start a new era.
Rutten has breathing space now. The Daniher, Fantasia and McKenna distractions will be gone. Saad, too. Hopefully, for their sake, they can convince Zach Merrett to stay for the long term.
There is reason to believe players such as Andy McGrath, Jordan Ridley, Merrett and Darcy Parish can, in time, lead an Essendon uprising. Caldwell will be a good addition.
Rutten and Richardson have spoken of hard-line stances and non-negotiable standards. They’ll need to strike the right balance there with establishing a harmonious playing group.
That wasn’t always the case while the talented but at-times dysfunctional Daniher, Fantasia and McKenna were there. It certainly wasn’t all their fault, either.
Leaving the past behind is the key here – not clinging to it with more moves like bringing former coach Kevin Sheedy onto the board.
The future depends on it.
Marc McGowan is an experienced sports journalist who’s covered Australian Football and tennis at the highest level. Now a freelancer, he worked most recently for AFL.com.au and has been published in The Herald Sun, The NT News, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail, The Australian and Australian Tennis Magazine. Marc completed an Honours degree in Communications from Monash University and has won awards for his feature writing.
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