Essendon will go in search of a coach with AFL experience following the sacking of Ben Rutten.
Rutten lasted just two years in the job at Tullamarine, with the club parting ways with the 39-year-old on Sunday as the Bombers ended the 2022 season with a 7-15 record.
After attempting to lure Alastair Clarkson to the club last week before he ultimately decided to sign a contract with North Melbourne, Essendon President Dave Barham says the club want an “experienced coach”.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Barham believes a coach with pre-existing AFL experience will be able to get more out of the club’s young list.
“We think we’re after a more experienced coach,” Barham said.
“We think a more experienced coach may be able to get more out of this list.
“We want to give our list the best chance … we do think we’ve got a good young list.”
Following board feedback where the side was labelled “uncompetitive”, Barham says the decision was made to part ways with Rutten who didn’t come to the club with senior coaching experience under his belt.
“We get feedback all the time at board level from different people within the club,” Barham said.
“We had some pretty uncompetitive performances on the field, truthfully, we had four or five at least.
“We’ve just got to look at it and go, Ben, we’re very thankful to him, he’s a terrific person, but we think a more experienced coach might give us a better chance.”
Considering that Clarkson is now off the market, Barham was asked whether Essendon would go after a coach that currently works at an AFL club.
“No, no, we’re a great club,” Barham replied.
“We’ve got a good list, we’ve got big matches and we’re an attractive club to coach.
“I would expect people to be interested in coaching Essendon.”
Assistants with AFL experience that are no longer senior coaches include Sydney’s Don Pyke, Collingwood’s Brendon Bolton and Justin Leppitsch, Richmond’s David Teague and West Coast’s Matthew Knights.