Essendon general manager, football Josh Mahoney has welcomed the draft report findings of the club’s external review.
In a letter to members last night, President Dave Barham announced the preliminary report submitted by consultancy group EY had resulted in the Board’s immediate intent to create two new roles to further bolster the Dons’ AFL program.
Barham announced the Bombers will be hiring for a general manager of performance and a head of development to provide extra support to Mahoney and new senior coach Brad Scott.
Speaking to 3AW Sports Day, Mahoney said the announcement proves the Bombers are intent on bettering their football program to achieve sustained on field success.
“(With) the Board putting full support behind the football program and putting in additional resources to support myself and Brad Scott as our new senior coach, you can only take that as really positive. It’s a really good sign that this is about an investment into football,” Mahoney said.
“We haven’t performed anywhere near where we need to for a long period of time as a club now and we’re getting serious about being a good football team.
“It takes a lot of different elements to get that right. You need to get the right playing list and be clear and aligned on where your playing list is at and put the right resources around them and type of people there as well.”
With the head of development role earmarked to provide overarching support for newly appointed development coaches in Michael Hurley and Travis Cloke, the general manager of performance role will have a more wholistic purpose.
“It’s (GM of performance) really a support role for Brad Scott as the senior coach and myself,” Mahoney said.
“It’s about aligning all the coaching, high-performance and data and making sure we’re doing everything with purpose.
“it’s someone just looking at our program with a real laser focus that everything we’re doing, every moment our players and staff come into the NEC Hangar, they’re doing it with purpose and maximising the time we have together.”
