they have
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Jeez⌠those candidate statements are so vague, offer nothing in the way of qualifications for the role, so I feel they are useless/pointless.
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Solly has nice hair.
Green has a nice smile.
I reckon Maxfield would shout you a jug at the pub, but not mixed drinks. Is that wrong?
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i dont see how we can make an informed decision.
Why should it matter when someone like Sean Wellman wins a spot over a tried and true board member like Paul Cousins?
Itâs a popularity vote not a best choice for the role vote.
I worked a little bit with Luke Maxfield a couple of years ago. Canât say I know him that well and not saying Iâll necessarily vote for him but he seemed like a nice, genuine and pretty switched on guy.
Interestingly (or perhaps not) he was on a members Q&A earlier this year - see 1.20 of this video: https://www.essendonfc.com.au/exclusive/video/1566104/exclusive-member-qa-jade-gresham-todd-goldstein
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from a very small sample size it didnt look to me like Sean was super passionate about the team.
Paul Weston gets my vote. Heâs close friend of a mate of mine. Went to NYE party at his place a few years ago and had a great conversation with him and some other players of that era. They were all hurting with the clubs state just before the revolution started.
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âTwenty years of shortcutsâ: Dons president faces board challenge, preaches stability
ByJake Niall
December 2, 2024 â 11.30am
Key points
- Five candidates, including current president David Barham, are vying for two spots on Essendonâs board.
- Barham says 20 years of âquick fixes and shortcutsâ havenât worked and is campaigning on âstability, unity and alignmentâ.
- Essendon have just completed a review of board operations, which reinforced the need for a mix of skills.
- Barham says he will ânever bagâ ex-list boss Adrian Dodoro but the Bombers have improved their longer-term strategic recruitment planning.
- Barham says coach Brad Scott has taken a long-term approach with the list rather than protecting his position.
Essendon president David Barham is urging the clubâs members to back him to finish the job he started two years ago as he faces a contested board election involving two former 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 â 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 â both of whom were installed after Barham took over the presidency in the board coup that led to coach Ben Ruttenâs removal.
âIâm preaching stability, unity and alignment because thatâs what we need,â Barham told this masthead. âWe need that to be successful. So I would like the chance to finish what we started.â
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.
âSo what I say them [the fans] is [I] totally understand ⌠Iâve felt that way myself. But you canât hold the people that are in there now â Brad Scott, Craig Vozzo especially, responsible for whatâs happened the last 20 years,â he said.
âThose two, in particular, they werenât here in 2015 when [WADA took the drugs saga to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and] it went wrong, they werenât here in 2007 [when Kevin Sheedyâs time as coach came to an end]. Itâs irrelevant.
âWhatâs relevant now is we put all our effort in to make sure we build a club thatâs going to give us that sustained success.
âAll I can say is weâve got 20 years of history of taking quick fixes and shortcuts and it hasnât worked. So what we have to do now is have the courage to do the work and stay the course.â
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
âIf 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 werenât.
âSo youâve got to learn your lessons, which is how weâre in the draft âŚ
âYou also now compound that with Joe Daniher, Adam Saad, Fantasia and Connor McKenna all leaving at the end of 2020.â
He said Scott had taken a long-term approach with the Bombersâ list rather than protecting his position.
âBut he couldâve this year gone [said] Iâm not trading Stringer, I want Dan Houston, pick nine will get us Dan Houston, load up his list, got to win games. But heâs taken a bigger picture view of the club ⌠and heâs been selfless and for that Iâm very grateful.â
âWe havenât had stability for a long timeâ
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.
âYou canât be successful if you havenât got stability,â he said.
âThe second is alignment, which is critical, and the alignment comes between the key people in the club and Iâve got a great relationship with Brad Scott, Iâve got a really good relationship with Craig Vozzo and the three of us get on really well and weâre aligned on how we think.
âAnd the last thing you need is unity. I donât think you can be a successful club without those three things.
âSo we havenât had stability for a long time, weâre getting it now after two years of pretty much the leaking at the clubâs stopped, the cultureâs improved. I think itâs a much better club, weâve now got alignment.
âThe unity is what weâve got to work on all the way through. Everyone in the club has to stay united because if you donât stay united, and you tear yourself down, youâll end up nowhere.
âSo I think I can play a significant role in keeping those three things together, and Iâve got three more years left that I can. I want to do it and then I want to have a proper succession plan.â
Barham said Essendonâs board had a policy of not endorsing candidates.
â[Youâve got] Paul Weston and Dean Solomon who are both really good people, youâve got Melissa Verner Green who has been on the board whoâs a great person and a guy called Luke Maxfield, who I donât know, but good on him for having a go.
âI congratulate anyone who wants to have a go because itâs a volunteer role.â
Given that there were only two spots, Barham said his position as president was in the hands of the members.
âItâs their club. Iâm very happy for them to look at what Iâve done or where Iâm at and whatâs happened,â 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.
âI 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.â
He said Essendon had just completed a review of board operations, begun partway through the season, by Board Partnersâ Jane Stuchberry. The review reinforced the need for a mix of board skills, such as having Kingâs Counsel, Tony Howard. Vice president and ex-player Andrew Welsh was âprobably the favouriteâ to succeed Barham.
On the prospect of having three ex-players on the board, he said: âI donât think itâs ideal but itâs not my decision. Itâs the membersâ ⌠we need all sorts of different skills.â
Club legend Kevin Sheedy, who is stepping down from the board, will remain a paid ambassador.
âI will never bag Adrianâ
Barham was asked about former list manager Adrian Dodoroâs exit and his action against the club in the Fair Work Commission, which was settled with a reported six-figure payment.
âI canât [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,â Barham said.
âI will never bag Adrian. Adrianâs a life member of the footy club and as president of the footy club, heâs put a lot of work in to the footy club ⌠whether you like him or donât like him, heâs committed a lot of his life to this footy club. So Iâll always have a lot of respect for Adrian.
Former list boss Adrian Dodoro.Credit:AFL Photos
âBut at the same time I think weâve got a really good recruiting manager in Matt Rosa for the future, I think weâve got some improved processes, I think weâve got a better spread of people across the board and I think Craig Vozzoâs made a big impact, because heâs come in and seen that we need more help in recruiting.
âAnd I think now that our planning is better. I think we have now a longer-term strategic plan. I think weâve gone from â in some ways I think we picked best available. I think weâre picking now âwhat do we needâ and whatâs our list need in three years.
âItâs really about identifying what we need. You donât want to have too many midfielders, you donât want to have too many small forwards.â
âPlayers donât come to bad clubsâ
Barham said Essendonâs improved culture under Scott, who had been critical of standards, was evident in the re-signing of Mason Redman, Andrew McGrath and Jordan Ridley.
âOne of the most gratifying things for me was Mason Redman re-signing halfway through the next year ⌠he said âhad this been 12 months ago, I wouldnât have re-signedâ.â
He said stability would help attract players. âYouâve got to have stability, and youâve got to have unity and all those other things because players donât come to bad clubs.â
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 âpoor processâ.
âLooking back I learnt an enormous amount and itâs my responsibility ⌠It was unfortunate.â
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Trying to keep all the AGM/board discussion in one spot, rather than spread across three threads, so please post in this thread:
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