Nathan Buckley and Garry Lyon have weighed in on the jarring comments made by Essendon board member Kevin Sheedy following the appointment of Brad Scott as their senior coach.
Sheedy slammed the public messaging by the club in the aftermath, saying it was not a unanimous call and that he was firmly in favour of James Hird winning the role.
The Bombers legend in an interview with the Herald Sun spoke of loyalty to Hird and expressed frustration with outsiders at the club making decisions.
Buckley believes Sheedy has put his own interests above the club’s.
“Kevin Sheedy is a legend of the game. What he has contributed to the game cannot be questioned, but there are moments where the individual is put above the group and that can never happen for a club to prosper,” Buckley told SEN Breakfast.
“I can’t see how that was done with the interests of the Essendon Football Club today and going forward (in mind).
“If you’re a senior coach, a player or a staff member and you’re not acting in the best interests of the organisation, well then you need to check yourself in that regard.
“As much as I love what Sheedy has given to the game and what he has contributed, I don’t think that was a wise utterance coming straight out of the disharmony that’s been at Essendon and still has to be sorted out.”
Garry Lyon agreed, believing it seeded further disharmony at Essendon at an inopportune time.
“That’s the point that struck me. You’ve got this faith and loyalty to James Hird, which is great, and that’s what he was trying to impress upon everyone,” Lyon said.
“It’s divisive … at a time when this club has been pulled apart to a large degree, there’s dissatisfaction everywhere and the CEO is gone and the coach is gone and the president - you want unity.
“You’re selling unity and at the very first opportunity post the appointment of the coach … that’s where the disappointment comes from those around Essendon.”
Buckley believes the club’s unsettled board is not new coach Brad Scott’s problem to fix.
“And when you say you want unity, that’s not without challenge. That’s not without rigour internally. But once the decision is made then it is our decision and for him to come out and say that … it’s no longer united because he has chosen to step outside of that,” he added.
“Brad Scott as a senior coach comes in. This is not his to fix, but this was always going to be the challenge of whoever comes into the role of ‘what are you stepping into’.
“This isn’t for Brad Scott to fix, it’s like the messiah complex, is Alastair Clarkson going to go and fix North Melbourne? No. That shouldn’t be his task. His task should be to go and coach the team and pull the football program together.
“Anything above him needs to be sorted by the board and the CEO and Essendon still has work to do there.”