Goodness me, an article with some depth for a change.
OPINION
The four weeks of football that redeemed John Worsfold
Jake Niall
Chief football writer, The Age
July 20, 2019 — 5.50pm
The resurrection of Essendon, and consolidation of John Worsfold’s once-parlous tenure, began in the final-quarter surge against Greater Western Sydney in round 15.
The momentum of that last-gasp victory carried into the Sydney game – another tight one – and continued into the North Melbourne thriller, when Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti’s arrow-straight snap from the boundary snatched back four points that Rhyce’s Roos appeared to have purloined.
But if these wins were critical – none more so than the Giant-slaying – Friday night’s stoning of the Crows must be close to John Worsfold’s finest hour as coach of the Bombers.
See the Bombers fly up: Celebrating the round 18 win against Adelaide.CREDIT:AAP
And it was almost precisely one hour of grit that has the Bombers well-placed to secure a finals berth, in defiance of an injury toll that appeared close to a tipping point when Michael Hurley, the club’s premier tall defender, had shoulder surgery last week.
Adelaide’s lead peaked at 30 points late in the second term. At half-time, it was 25 points – which was actually 3.7 and might have been seven goals. The Crows had owned the stoppages and territory, as Reilly O’Brien took full toll of Essendon’s lack of a genuine ruck.
It was difficult to see how Essendon would overcome, not only the deficit on the scoreboard and poor field position, but the absence of Hurley, Orazio Fantasia and Tom Bellchambers, which compounded the season-long losses of Joe Daniher and Devon Smith.
Conversely, when we look at the names missing, sometimes it’s easy to forget who’s still on the park. The Bombers had most of their midfield intact, and retained their greatest asset and point of difference with most teams, which is their game-busting speed and audacious outside game.
Quiet resolve: Worsfold’s position, imperiled before the round-15 GWS ■■■■■■, must be secure for next year now. CREDIT:AAP
Dylan Shiel, Zach Merrett and Andy McGrath can create space from the middle with their acceleration, while Adam Saad and Conor McKenna can be ballisticfrom behind the ball.
The Crows, for whatever reason, didn’t seem to pay Merrett much attention. Wearing Merrett closely is Essendon 101 for the opposition, but Don Pyke flunked the exam. In the delicate balance between playing "our game’’ and respecting the opposition, the Crows didn’t do enough of the latter.
Several weeks ago, when exploring Worsfold’s precarious situation, this column put forth the proposition that the Essendon coach, while contracted for 2020, simply had to earn his contract in the remaining games by showing that the Dons could transcend their personnel issues.
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This is what the best teams and clubs do. Injuries don’t derail them, as in the case of the dismal Demons, who missed the jump in pre-season and haven’t caught up. Richmond, West Coast and Collingwood have hung tough and maintained a level of performance without key players.
Over the past month, Worsfold has met that key performance indicator of making a team exceed the sum of its parts. His position, imperilled before the GWS ■■■■■■, must be secure for next year now.
Essendon, in fact, have performed significantly better with a weaker team on paper. Insiders believe that the infusion of younger players – Dylan Clarke, Mason Redman, Aaron Francis, Matt Guelfi, Will Snelling and Marty Gleeson – has been instrumental in the recent renaissance. Darcy Parish has been revitalised from his spell in the twos.
Simultaneously, the defensive system that assistant coach Ben Rutten has imported from Tigerland has steadily taken hold. This was never going to happen immediately.
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Interestingly, Essendon’s upswing coincides with Worsfold’s decision to coach from ground level several weeks ago. It is unclear whether this is coincidence, or a cause of the revival.
Worsfold is a coach who puts on the onus on his players, asking them to take responsibility and ownership of their destiny, rather than barking demands – so results tend to be slow burning. He also empowers and delegates to his assistants, two of whom – Rob Harding and Paul Corrigan – were recently told to look elsewhere for 2020, in what was an early cull.
To transcend personnel issues, such as the lack of ruckmen and key forwards, requires role players to complete the task demanded of them.
If they handed out Oscars for roles performed on Friday night, Mitch Brown would take home best supporting actor by a former VFL player.
He booted 4.0, including one from close to 50 metres out near the beer stalls that created palpable momentum for the storming Dons. Brown, much like Collingwood’s Brody Mihocek, is a late-booming ex-VFL key position player (Sandringham, via Geelong) who maximises the modest gifts he owns.
Brown is not a pack-marking colossus, nor a Lance Franklin-like power athlete with rapid acceleration and nimble feet. What he can do, however, is cover vast territory – he runs as far as midfielders on GPS numbers – present a mobile target and kick accurately.
From whence did Essendon’s belief and momentum come? Invariably, teams garner belief from within the players themselves, organically.
If Worsfold has been questioned on whether he could develop an effective game style - Matthew Lloyd is among his credible critics - his belief in delegation and handing over to players means he’s reliant on self-reliant players and technically-adept assistants. Over time, the players teach themselves.
Supporting role: Mitch Brown was key to creating momentum. CREDIT:AAP
In 2019, the Bombers arguably have their second season of genuinely "clean air’’ after the drugs saga. One legacy of the saga has been that the club’s leaders – particularly the chairman, Lindsay Tanner, chief executive Xavier Campell, Worsfold and potentially Dyson Heppell – have the perspective of knowing that another early-season slump pales beside the trauma of 2013-16.
The early season failures brought pressure on the coach, without panic. Composure was followed by resolve.
For the first time in a long time, losing players didn’t stop the Dons from winning games.
Jake Niall
Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.
