A bombshell critical assessment of Essendon Football Club from AFL legend Leigh Matthews has drawn surprising backing from one of the Bombers’ own greatest-ever players, with Tim Watson agreeing the club faces far more pressing challenges than retaliating against the Brisbane Lions board director.
Matthews, a premiership-winning player and coach widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in AFL history, pulled no punches during a radio interview on 3AW last week when discussing Essendon’s ongoing search for a new senior head coach. He openly stated that any reputable coach with alternative job opportunities would never consider taking the vacant role at the struggling Melbourne club.
“If you desperately want a job, you just go for it, right? But anyone who has choices ain’t going to Essendon,” Matthews said, adding: “Leigh Matthews wouldn’t go anywhere near Essendon.” He went on to argue that a coach’s success depends entirely on the quality of playing talent, support staff and leadership from the club’s top ranks, saying he had no confidence in the club’s current governance structure.
Following the public backlash to Matthews’ comments, journalist Caroline Wilson revealed on Channel 7’s Monday night broadcast that Essendon’s leadership had escalated the issue to AFL headquarters, asking the governing body to intervene. “Essendon CEO Tim Roberts was made aware of these comments and sent a transcript to the AFL and asked them what the AFL was going to do about it,” Wilson explained. The AFL, however, dismissed the complaint, framing the row as an internal club matter rather than a league-wide issue.
Speaking on SEN radio on Tuesday morning, Tim Watson — a three-time premiership winner who played 307 games for Essendon over a 17-year career — pushed back against his former club’s decision to report Matthews. Watson argued that the Bombers should be focused on fixing their deep-seated problems instead of targeting Matthews for his blunt comments, noting the club “has much bigger things to worry about than trying to dob him in.”
Watson added that Matthews has never been one to chase cheap media clicks, and that the Lions great’s harsh words contained a large dose of truth. “There’s enough evidence to suggest that what he’s saying is not completely untrue either,” Watson said. “I think the best thing that you can do in this business is point at the scorecard. At the moment their scorecard looks miserable.”
Those miserable on-field results are impossible to ignore. The Bombers have notched just two wins from their last 30 matches, with only one victory coming since they sacked former senior coach Brad Scott back in May. Currently sitting at the very bottom of the AFL ladder, Essendon holds a 2-18 win-loss record and a paltry 64.4 percent points percentage.
The club’s struggles stretch far beyond the current season, too. As of Tuesday, Essendon’s drought without a finals win has hit 21 years and 334 days, with their last September victory coming all the way back in 2004. Interim head coach Dean Solomon is the 12th different person to lead the club in that 21-year window, a statistic that underscores the constant instability that has plagued the Bombers for decades.