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Essendon coach Ben Rutten has arrived for work amid reports his exit from the club is firming as the Bombers launch a late play for Alastair Clarkson.
It was a turbulent day at Tullamarine on Monday that saw club president Paul Brasher step down from his role and David Barham, who was supportive of an external review set to take place rather than the internal assessment which was recently completed, take over.
It comes after Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph said Rutten’s role as Bombers coach is “untenable,” with several members of the board including Kevin Sheedy not supportive of him.
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Arriving at the Bombers’ Tullamarine headquarters early on Tuesday morning, Rutten said speculation around his future was “not ideal obviously” but was determined to focus on his job.
“I have got the confidence of the players, I’ve got a job to do and I am going to coach to the best I can in the next five days,” he told reporters.
Essendon skipper Dyson Heppell walked into the club around an hour later.
Asked if Rutten still had the players, Heppell told reporters: “He’s certainly got all our support. There’s been a bit of noise overnight, so we’ll see how things pan out over the coming weeks.
“You certainly feel for him if there’s been reports go out like that (Rutten had lost his job), but nothing has been confirmed as yet.”
Heppell, “as far as I’m concerned at the moment”, said Rutten would coach the Bombers against Richmond this weekend
Although Rutten remained in his role on Monday, Fox Footy’s Mark Robinson thinks his future is now “hanging by the thinnest of threads,” with fellow AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley agreeing that Clarkson might be installed as his replacement by the end of the week.
Robinson believes Rutten’s departure from Essendon has been building for some time and that there were signs during the club’s 84-point loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday he knew he was on the way out.
“I believe that after the supplements saga, (Essendon) didn’t want to upset anyone. Ben Rutten comes in and they are playing vanilla football,” he said.
“They’ve just been going down this waterway … meanwhile watching Carlton, Collingwood surge and this football club is just sitting round in the bottom six. It just hasn’t been good enough … there’s certainly no confidence (in Rutten).
“That performance against Port Adelaide is the most insipid performance by any team this year. Ben’s not an extroverted coach, but when you were watching that yesterday, it’s not coaching but human emotion. Show something because your players aren’t. It’s like he knew.
“To put in a performance like that, the heart had gone. The heart had fallen out of the club, the team.
“They’ve told him today: ‘Ben … we’re going after Alastair Clarkson. I don’t know if we are going to get him or not. If we don’t, we’ll have another chat. But if we get him, sorry mate, you’re gone and Alastair Clarkson will be moving in’. That could happen tomorrow.”
“When you’ve got the three clubs in front of you – the Giants, Kangaroos and Essendon. Alastair Clarkson has those three clubs – unless he’s got a tremendous soft spot for North Melbourne and developed a real strong rapport with Sonja Hood … unless they have developed so closely that Clarkson says ’I can’t let you down now’ … North Melbourne will be telling Alastair they want an answer by Wednesday-Thursday this week.
“Because if it‘s not Clarkson, they’ve got to get a move on. They’ve put a month into Alastair Clarkson.
“They’ve got a plan B – the place isn‘t going to fall down because Alastair Clarkson has said no. But they’ll want an answer and I think Sonya Hood and the North Melbourne officials will be sleeping a little uneasy tonight as they want Alastair Clarkson.”
Whateley said he “always felt this was a possibility” that clubs outside of North Melbourne and the Giants were in play for Clarkson despite speculation in recent weeks that the coaching great was set to join the Kangaroos.
“Essendon is all in on Alastair Clarkson. We believe that to be true … so it’s over for Ben Rutten,” he said.
“It was about eight weeks ago it was red hot Clarkson was keen on the Essendon job but it couldn’t happen while Paul Brasher was chairman because he had a different course mapped out.”
Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson also believes Rutten will be removed as coach as early as Tuesday.
“Ben Rutten seems only hours away from finishing up as coach of the Essendon Football Club,” Wilson said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified.
“This has been building since May/June this year, we know Paul Basher been under pressure. He’s resisted looking elsewhere for a senior coach, he’s backed Ben Rutten, as has Xavier Campbell.
“We know David Barham has wanted an external review, and external review translated into I reckon Alastair Clarkson.
“I believe David Barham has been running the move for Alastair Clarkson, which makes you wonder about the future of Xavier Campbell, who earlier this year looked at Clarkson, but has been no part of this negotiation in recent weeks.”
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Asked if she thinks Clarkson be coaching Essendon next year, Wilson said: “That’s my tip. My understanding he has suggested to North Melbourne that decision is a few days away now, that’s been extended.”
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd supported the move for Clarkson and the club’s external review amid it’s struggles this season, sitting 15th on the ladder with seven wins after last year’s finals appearance.
“I made that comments six or seven weeks ago, while Alastair Clarkson is sitting there he’s too a coach to not get in the race for him,” Lloyd said.
“They had a good response over the last seven or eight weeks, which I thought was going to save him. But what we’ve seen the last two weeks against the Giants and Port Adelaide — it think yesterday (84-point loss to the Power) was the final straw — in my opinion, yes, I’d move on from Ben.
“It’s been a long time — 2004 since the last winning final. I’m pleased in a sense with David Barham and the leadership he’s shown. they’ve changed the odd board member, head of football and assistant coach, but it’s not really getting them far, it’s just making change for the sake of it.
“Now this is big, because potentially it changes the president, it puts pressure on whether Xavier Campbell is the right man, head of footy, head of recruiting, the coach — everyone is being looked at.
“I think finally we‘re going to get an external review, not an internal review, how can you review yourself?”
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