The Reason Behind Hardwick Missing The Job....

[BenDoolan]

From the upcoming release of "Glory & Fame".....

HAWTHORN'S suspicions about the potential leaking of confidential information may have cost its assistant coach Damien Hardwick Essendon's senior coaching position after Kevin Sheedy's departure in 2007, a new book claims.

In Glory & Fame: the Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club, to be released next month, Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson claims that Hawthorn, which was in the middle of a finals campaign, made Hardwick surrender the computer on which he had compiled his presentation and notes.

Hardwick, a former Essendon premiership player and favourite of the Bomber fans, was perceived to be ahead of Matthew Knights, the other surviving applicant for the role, after the pair were twice interviewed by the Essendon sub-committee steering the new coach's appointment. But in the final interview, before the panel and the full club board, Knights impressed, while Hardwick faltered.

Jackson says that is because Hardwick was forced to use borrowed equipment with which he was not familiar, and, as a result, his outlining of his plans for the team was hampered. Based on the performances at the final interview, the board and panel picked Knights.

"Unfortunately, a few things didn't go Damien's way," Jackson says in the book. "My understanding is that while he was applying for the job, he wasn't allowed in at Hawthorn. They took his computer off him, so he had to borrow one to redo his presentation, because his original one was all on his work computer.

"I got the impression he was burning the candle at both ends trying to get it going, then on the day, he wasn't familiar with the computer, and it didn't start up properly, and Damien can get a bit annoyed with himself.

"His final performance was probably not as good as his second one, whereas Matthew's was terrific, and on the day, that's what the full board saw. When the two interviews were finished, the board asked the sub-committee to give a final recommendation, we went away and talked about it for 10 minutes, came back and said: 'On that performance, you would have to appoint Knights', and they said: 'We totally agree with you'."

Knights' appointment, which was announced in grand final week of 2007, came as a major surprise to the football world. He had been one of a large field of applicants for the job, Essendon's hunt for Sheedy's successor lasting nearly three months.

The initial targets for the Bombers were the recently retired Michael Voss, Geelong coach Mark Thompson, Sydney's Paul Roos and Port Adelaide's Mark Williams, all of whom had either declared themselves unavailable, or refused to submit themselves to the process of a detailed psychological assessment and two lengthy interviews before a sub-committee of six comprising Jackson, chief operating officer Travis Auld, former Carlton champion Andrew McKay and board members Kevin Egan, Alec Epis and Brad Teal, before a final presentation to the board.

Jackson concedes being shocked at how well Hardwick had performed in the initial interview process.

"If you had told me in July that at the beginning of September we were going to end up with Knights and Hardwick, I would have said Knights was a possibility, and with Hardwick: 'You're kidding me'," Jackson admits. "Only because I didn't know anything about him, just my perceptions of him as a player."

While speculation at the time about the preference for Knights over Hardwick centred on Knights' more positive views about Essendon's senior list, Jackson says it was Knights' more professional final presentation, coupled with the knowledge of the younger players on the list he had gained from coaching the Bendigo Bombers, which got him over the line.

"Matthew got stronger and stronger as he went along, and his best performance, by a factor of two compared to the first interview, was in front of the full board," Jackson recalls. "I suppose, too, Matthew also had an advantage already being here. He knew what the players were thinking, he knew what the issues were in here, and he knew exactly where to go with it."

Knights is in the second year of a three-year contract with Essendon. The Bombers won eight of their 22 games last season and finished 12th. The critics were savage on the Bombers and Knights after their listless opening-round loss to Port Adelaide, but have eased up after two wins in the past fortnight, the last an impressive victory over a Carlton team widely tipped to make the top four.

Hardwick is now into his fifth season with the Hawks as an assistant after being lured by Alastair Clarkson to the club upon his appointment to the Hawthorn job for the 2005 season. Hardwick had played in the Port Adelaide premiership side of 2004, of which Clarkson had been an assistant coach to Williams.

Glory & Fame: the Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club is available from major bookstores from May 15. Also available at Essendon Football Club or visit slatterymedia.com/books.

[hillchaser]

Funny - I read this the other day... it leaves me with mixed feelings...

Just because you stuff up a power point presentation and can't get the laptop working doesn't mean you will be a bad AFL coach. Surely this wasn't such a big deciding factor.

Also consider that Hardwick had premiership experience as a bombers player and then also as a port player (and now as a hawthorn assist coach) it surprises me that Peter Jackson rated him so low.

Still happy with Knights but not sure about PJ or RH.

[s'dreams]

Recall that at the time the main determiner cited by the club re the decision between Hardwick and Knights was that Hardwick wanted a severe pruning of players that wouldn't take the team to a flag (combined with agressive recruiting), while Knights was more restrained in who he would delist.

Had Hardwick got the job, I suspect the level of delistings would have drawn criticism from the player group (especially those delisted) and fans and would have been seen as an further criticism of the Sheedy Era. Given the howls from some members, and the media at the time regarding the Sheedy decision, I am not suprised that Knights was selected.

As it turns out, Knights has cleared out many of those players that fellow BT'ers felt needed moving on (or at least traded to the Ararat seconds) and those who were potentially destabilising the team without major ructions. He has also brought the coaching and support departments to the standard required for an AFL team.

Most importanty ... Knights has not attempted to reproduce the Port Adelaide or Hawthorn "style" (which IMO may get to finals but not a flag) but is developing a new approach which makes use of the talent in the team and when it comes together, (like it did against Carlton) ... who knows. With all respect, I'm not convinced that Hardwick could have achieved this.

Cheers - STI

[ealesy]

Don't think it would have had a major impact on the decision, it would have more been the content of the presentations and Hardwick was suggesting a couple of things that were obviously going to be unpopular, such as trading Scott Lucas, and if he was thrown by the computer problems it would have made it more difficult to sell this idea and himself as the best man for the job.

[ealesy]

Most importanty ... Knights has not attempted to reproduce the Port Adelaide or Hawthorn "style" (which IMO may get to finals but not a flag)

Cheers - STI

Hmm strange comment, seeing that these two teams have both played in one of the past two Grand Finals and has won the Hawks a premiership.

Not disagreeing with you because while that gameplan might suit Port and the Hawks it would not necessarily suit our team.

[Madden]

Read this yesterday.

The Knights-Hardwick situation is inconsequential. The real issue with this article is why the hell PJ would come out and reveal all this information publically

Yes it may be true, yes it may be for our book, but it makes EFC look stupid and is a hit to Knights' credibility.

PJ's gaffes are getting to Horsborough levels, and that's a real concern.

[s'dreams]

Most importanty ... Knights has not attempted to reproduce the Port Adelaide or Hawthorn "style" (which IMO may get to finals but not a flag)

Cheers - STI

Hmm strange comment, seeing that these two teams have both played in one of the past two Grand Finals and has won the Hawks a premiership.

Not disagreeing with you because while that gameplan might suit Port and the Hawks it would not necessarily suit our team.

I am a supporter of the theory that both experienced talent and novel gamestyles lead to premierships, but these styles take a few years to put together. I recall that Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney and Port were heavily criticised while they were getting their styles to click.

These new styles are countered within a 1-2 years. For example
Ess in 1999/2000 were the first exponents of the reverse pass and switch and attacking HB line. This was stymied by flooding (and salary caps)
Bris with the 4 gun midfielders (hmm does Carlton 2009 try to mimic this) ... stymied by taggers and the aging midfield and salary cap
Sydney with high possession tempo footy (copied to no effect by St Kilda) ...
Geelong and Hawthorn have a similar game plan (though Hawthorn have a better forward structure and the rolling zone) ... will be stymied soon by many clubs with some sort of approach.

I guess that the point I am making is that by the time the young talent in EFC got to the 75-100 game zone, the currently dominant Hawthorn/Geelong game play would have been neutralised by most clubs (or rule changes). So I am supportive of a new style being developed (which most clubs will not focus on as thay are adressing the dominant style).

Cheers - STI

[s'dreams]

Read this yesterday.

The Knights-Hardwick situation is inconsequential. The real issue with this article is why the hell PJ would come out and reveal all this information publically

Yes it may be true, yes it may be for our book, but it makes EFC look stupid and is a hit to Knights' credibility.

PJ's gaffes are getting to Horsborough levels, and that's a real concern.

Agree ... an individual's performance at a job interview is generally privileged information that is not to be discussed outside the interview (for both legal and professional courtesy reasons). Do not understand why it has been revealed (have own thoughts but not inclined to put them online). At the least, it is poor form from a departing CEO.

Cheers - STI