Former Giants coach Leon Cameron looms as the last remaining coaching candidate with significant senior experience for Essendon to target after Ross Lyon pulled out of the race, citing a hesitancy to join an environment where “outside” people have previously struggled.
But club legend Matthew Lloyd has urged the Bombers to put a phone call in to Don Pyke, despite the former Adelaide coach’s desire to remain in New South Wales.
Lyon on Wednesday declared he was “a million per cent out” of contention for the vacant Bombers coaching role for 2023 and beyond.
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The former Dockers and Saints coach told Triple M he’d spoken to Bombers football boss Josh Mahoney on the phone before declaring via email he had “no desire” to go through the process of replacing Ben Rutten.
Lyon opened up about his decision further on Channel 9’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“It just didn’t feel right. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s just a personal judgment,” Lyon told Footy Classified.
“It’s not even about going through the process. Ultimately, they’re still going through a lot there and a fair bit came to me from Essendon people that had been in really strong positions and explained the club and the challenges of the club – and I think they‘re still going through that.
“I love what they‘re doing, I think the purge is necessary … But if you look at their history, anyone from the outside – and this is what’s got to change in my view, it doesn’t make it right, but I think there might be some internal views that people have been there – Matty Knights from the outside didn’t work, John Worsfold – even when they made finals there were noises about John – and then Rutten.
“So it‘s like an organ transplant, after two years you get rejected. I think they’ve got to get a head around an outsider of Essendon coming through. That would be something that was put to me – and I think when it’s put to you, I think that’s a reasonable assessment.”
Lyon earlier on Wednesday said he spent 90 minutes pondering his conversation with Mahoney and whether he would want to go through the hiring process before ultimately turning the Bombers down.
That short time period left Richmond legend Matthew Richardson stunned.
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“That’s not a big endorsement of Essendon,” Richardson told 3AW’s Sportsday.
“This is one of the biggest clubs in the land and Ross only gives it an hour and a half.”
Lyon’s decision leaves Cameron as one of the last remaining candidates with senior coaching experience.
Footy Classified co-host Sam McClure said AFL football operations boss Brad Scott was also out of the running, although fellow panellist Caroline Wilson said the ex-Roos coach was not “completely out of the running”.
“I would not be surprised if Essendon had another crack at Brad Scott. That would be my understanding,” Wilson told Footy Classified.
“People who know Brad and are close to Brad … are adamant that he will coach again.”
McClure said Cameron would likely be “the next phone call” for the Bombers, who’ve discussed approaching the ex-Giants coach.
Cameron, who in May stepped down as Giants coach after almost nine years in charge, last month conceded he didn’t know if he had the “energy” to go through the long, intense senior coach appointing process.
“I haven’t really given (applying) much thought yet. I haven’t had that phone call (from Essendon) – clearly they’ve just named their coaching panel yesterday,” he told SEN.
“If you do decide to go down that path, it’s got to be full on. You can’t go 95 per cent. You’ve got to go all in and be prepared to sit down and go through the process.”
Other names the Bombers could consider include senior assistant coaches like Adem Yze (Melbourne), Jaymie Graham (Fremantle) and Daniel Giansiracusa (Essendon).
But Lloyd said Pyke, who coached the Crows to the 2017 Grand Final, should be a priority for Essendon.
“Don Pyke, he‘s gone through a lot with what’s happened with the Adelaide Crows, but he can genuinely coach,” Lloyd told Footy Classified.
“He‘s another phone call that I think could be made and add that name potentially to the list if he wants it.”
Lyon, however, warned: “But then it’s jumping in, the pressure, what happened to him in Adelaide, Essendon is just as ferocious – and probably that’s what goes through the mind.”
