Essendon president David Barham has said he will leave any decision on long-time list manager Adrian Dodoro to those he has employed to make those calls in CEO Craig Vozzo and head coach Brad Scott.
Dodoro, who has been at the Bombers for 19 years, has come under fire given the club’s lack of success in that time, with club great Tim Watson pushing Barham for an answer on the list manager’s future.
“Personally, I think there is a really unhealthy obsession with Adrian Dodoro. I really do,” Barham told SEN Breakfast when asked.
Watson, an Essendon premiership hero, went back and forth with Barham on the controversial list manager’s position at the club.
Watson: “So Adrian Dodoro is still the best person available to lead the recruiting department at Essendon?”
Barham: “My job is the president of the footy club. I don’t make individual decisions about who gets employed in the football department.”
Watson: “No, but you’ve got a view.”
Barham: “Yeah, but I don’t force my view because what’s the point of me employing Craig Vozzo and Brad Scott and then telling them what to do in regards to footy?”
Watson: “If I was in your position I’d be going to Vozzo and saying okay ‘let’s make sure the person we’ve got in charge of recruiting, we’ve turned the place upside down, we’ve taken everybody that was there in a senior position 12 months ago out of their position because we’re looking to build a better football club, have we still got the best person in the business leading our recruiting?’.”
Barham: “That’s what we’re doing. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Watson: “Are you still saying Adrian Dodoro is under review then if you’re saying you’re still looking at that?”
Barham: “I’m saying that Craig Vozzo has been here six months. Brad Scott has been here one year. And what I think they’ve done really, really well is they haven’t come in and made instant decisions, they’ve come in and had a really good look. That is a sensible and a smart way to run a football club. They’re making decisions about a whole range of things. It may be that they come to me and say ‘Adrian is fantastic, he is staying’ – great! That’s partly their decision because they are the experts in those areas. The board and the president have two decisions – the coach and the CEO. That’s it.”
Barham: “And the other thing I want to say is the obsession with people in football clubs is not healthy. We’ve all got a duty of care to people in these footy clubs. My job is to help protect everyone at the footy club. This is a great footy club full of great people…”
Watson: “Well it’s not a great footy club. It’s got great history as a footy club.”
Barham: “We’re not great at the minute, absolutely. That’s why what happened, happened. My job is to protect these people. I’m not going to get on radio and talk about individual people’s jobs because I think it is really unfair.”
Watson: “Yep, but people want to hear from you as the chairman that you’re satisfied with the people we’ve got employed to make the club better.”
Barham: “I am absolutely satisfied that Craig Vozzo and Brad Scott will make all the right decisions to make this club a successful club.”
Garry Lyon: “Josh Mahoney departed the club, why?”
Barham: “He had a job at the AFL for one, I think. Josh was looking around. I think he probably wanted a change.”
Lyon: “Was it untenable between him and Dodoro?”
Barham: “No. Again, everyone was saying we had a football department that was dysfunctional. Before the season started, Peter Wright signed on for four years. I don’t know of many best and fairest winners who sign on before the season starts at a dysfunctional footy club. I just don’t think it happens.”
Barham: “They (Dodoro and Mahoney) didn’t get on. They weren’t best mates, but they did the job and they went to meetings and they worked things out and did things properly. That was, to me, overblown, but it is what it is.”
Mahoney has joined the AFL as GM of Football Operations, working under Laura Kane.