Essendon can’t just be like Richmond, and a split between John Worsfold and Ben Rutten made life difficult in 2020, according to the club’s now-completed internal review.
The review rejected the idea of emulating Richmond, a move partially driven by now-former footy boss Dan Richardson, who joined from Punt Road at the end of 2017 but was axed just before the trade period.
“A desire to better understand what we stand for as a club and a football team is a theme I have been hearing from our members and it came through in some of the interviews (with players) as well,” Brasher said in the review.
“We need to be clearer on what the Essendon brand stands for. We will be addressing this as a club to ensure that our brand and our identity are clearly defined.”
“Just understanding exactly what it is - you know, we’re not Richmond, we’re not some other team. We need to understand the game style that’s going to work for us and be able to communicate that to our players, but also to our members and our fans,” Brasher said.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-essendon-club-review-analysis-problems-ben-rutten-john-worsfold-coach-new-footy-boss-paul-brasher/news-story/e2bd985ec16fd729fac8e6c984412a03