Watson: Where is the leadership and voice at Essendon?

Where is the voice? Where is the leadership?

That’s what Essendon great Tim Watson wants to know.

The Bombers are still yet to announce their next senior coach despite parting ways with Brad Scott back in May and replacing him with caretaker Dean Solomon.

According to Watson, there is a distinct lack of leadership coming from the executive team including president Andrew Welsh and CEO Tim Roberts.

The former club captain is also hearing that Craig Vozzo, who left as CEO in December, could be returning to The Hangar as the club’s football manager.

“I’ve got my duffle coat on here now. The problem with this, for me, is we do not have a voice of our club right now,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.

“We had a CEO who stood up for one press conference and performed so badly that they've actually warehoused him since and we have not seen him again since publicly making a statement about the football club.

“We have not heard from Andrew Welsh, who is the chairman. The poor coach, ‘Solly’ (Solomon), turns up week after week to do the press conference and try and defend the indefensible about the way the team's playing.

“We do not have anybody out there who's actually communicating with the members about what's taking place at the moment. Now, if you want to appoint Craig Vozzo, go ahead and appoint Craig Vozzo, and then allow him to be or put him out there as the spokesperson for your football club.

“If you don't have leadership, if you don’t fill that space yourself, then everybody else fills it for you and It doesn't necessarily go in the direction you want it to and you don't have control of the narrative.”

The situation surrounding the coaching announcement has been a hot topic in recent weeks.

In the early stages there was a groundswell of support for James Hird, and now it appears as though Mark McVeigh could be the man.

AFL Media’s Cal Twomey reported on Channel 9 on Tuesday night that there is a sense of confusion and bewilderment around the inevitable coaching decision and how long it has taken.

Twomey said: “There’s a level of bemusement around how long this has actually taken, and what they've actually cost themselves in doing it this way because if it is early next week who's going to run the exit meetings?

“Because Dean Solomon, there's still doubt on whether he's actually there at the football club next year. Dan McPherson, the footy boss, will be gone by then as well. How can you get in front of a possible assistant coaching option and coaching panel if it's pushed back?

“And how do you get recruits because recently Dean Solomon, Matt Inness and Matt Rosa all met a player they are chasing, and that was after Solomon had pulled out of the race to be the senior coach. So that's a very hard sell.”

Garry Lyon and Watson responded to those comments.

Lyon said: “Oh, it's messy, it just seems so messy.”

Watson believes the club has had ample time to make the decision, time in which they should have had a “grown-up conversation” with Hird one way or the other.

“It is (messy), and it didn't need to be this way,” Watson said.

“The club has had plenty of time to sort through this and decide what they want to do.

“If they didn't want James, have a grown-up conversation, sit down and say, ‘No, these are the reasons why we don't want you to be part of the process and you will not get the coaching job’, and take the backlash as a result of that.”

He also provided further context to the Vozzo rumblings.

“At this stage, Dan McPherson’s gone and who is going to be the new football man? I'm hearing that Craig Vozzo, who was the CEO, is calling the shots in terms of the coaching search and putting together panel people,” Watson continued.

“This is what I’m hearing. I won't say that he's running it, I'm saying that he's been instrumental in advising and consulting the club on this process and how they should go about their selection of their next coach.

“Now he is the guy who was formerly the CEO of the club and set in train the strategy about effectively bottoming out and then rebuilding and going forward again.

“If Craig Vozzo is going to be the football manager. This is the suggestion now that he is coming back and he will be the football manager and there'll be sort of a split role in some way between him and Rosa who is currently the recruiting manager at the football club.

“Now I don't know why, if that's the case, why they can't go ahead and formally announce that, appoint him, if that's what they want to do.”

Then there is the story in the Herald Sun about 33-year member Brett Crabtree who is part of a group looking to spill the current board if premiership captain and former coach Hird is not appointed.

The club has seemingly delayed the decision to announce the new coach until after the final home and away game of the 2026 season in a bid to avoid backlash if it’s not Hird.

Watson believes if that is the case then it’s a “charade” and the “wrong decision” by the club.

“I don't believe in that whole sort of blackmail thing of any kind, but I will say this: If it does come to pass that they never wanted James to be the coach, then that should have been made clear to James from day one when he put his hand up,” Watson said firmly.

“They should have just said categorically, ‘No, we do not want you to be the coach’. And that conversation could have been had then, and now we wouldn't have been still talking about the same issue related to James as what has still been an ongoing conversation.

“So I am believing them at this point, and I categorically stated at the time, ‘Go out there and find the best coach you possibly can’, which I still believe in.

“But if this is a charade and the reason why the naming of the coach has been held up because the club want to get past the last home and away game so there's not some form of protest at that last game, then I think this is a completely wrong decision by the football club.”