I have no inside word at all, so I assume that’s the feeling coming from inside if you’ve been told that in good faith. Some musings on why that might be the case.
Perhaps he was always lazy and nobody noticed. Seems unlikely given he worked under at three high performing clubs under Malthouse, Scott, and Hardwick, none of whom seem particularly laid back operators.
Perhaps he was always lazy but he had a contract so the teams quietly saw it out and suggested he move on. Seems unlikely given he was at the cats for seven years. Also he was hired at the cats by Balme, generally regarded as one of the best football managers of recent times, and one of the first things Balme did when he moved to the tigers years later was hire Caracella again. Also Rutten had previously worked with him, so presumably had some insight.
Perhaps he sees Essendon as a way to pad his retirement fund, having achieved everything he wants to. Seems unlikely considering after having previously said he has no interest in becoming a senior coach, when asked earlier this year he said it’s now something that’s on his radar. Senior coaching is rather famously not a relaxing gig, so one has to assume he’s not winding down.
Perhaps he got to Essendon and immediately became lazy, his vim and vigour leeched from his soul by a footballing vampire. If Essendon is that enervating then we need to sack every single person who has any role at all with the club, delist/trade every single player on the list, deep clean every single square inch of the place with industrial cleaner, hand the keys over to a random person, preferably someone who’s never even heard of Australian Rules football, and tell them to start over, with the only guidance that they never hire anyone who has previously been involved with or supported the club in any way. Possible.
Perhaps he has continued to do what he did at previous places of employment but it isn’t as effective because our players as a group have football IQs somewhere around the recommended storage temperature of a Cornetto. That would only seem a possibility if there was previous evidence. Like, say, previous coaching groups abandoning structures for a more freewheeling game plan halfway through the year because the players didn’t like it and couldn’t do it, or a newly arrived player observing that his new team mates are at their best when they don’t have to do anything complicated. Well, huh.