Essendon last week announced they would be conducting a review of the football department with the Bombers languishing at 2-9 and 16th on the ladder.
Many believed the Bombers would grow on their eighth-placed finish from last year both externally and internally at Tullamarine but finals are now a distant memory.
President Paul Brasher has announced a full-scale review of the club's football operations. The statement also offers an apology to members for the failure to inform them of the two-year extension signed by CEO Xavier Campbell.
Brasher revealed to members that football director Sean Wellman is overseeing the review on behalf of the board with legends Kevin Sheedy and Simon Madden helping the 2000 premiership defender conduct the review.
Immediate comparisons can be drawn to the review undertaken by Carlton last season that ultimately saw coach David Teague, CEO Cain Liddle, and a number of assistant coaches depart Princes Park.
Carlton are now 8-3 and now appear likely to feature in their first finals campaign since 2013.
The major difference between the reviews conducted by the competition's most successful clubs is that Carlton turned to people outside of its four walls. They sourced three external sets of eyes, with Geoff Walsh, Graham Lowe and Matthew Pavlich overseeing the process.
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd is one that believes the Bombers must seek the help of people not connected with the club in order to get the most fruitful and honest answers.
"If they're going to do a review I would bring in outsiders because I think it's time that everyone within the club opened up honestly," Lloyd said on Footy Classified.
"If you've got internal people doing the review, you're always fearful that it could come back on you. I think a review should be done where outsiders come in and players can open up honestly on what they think of coaching, what they think of the club.
"I'd love to see the fitness staff (being reviewed) because they're getting a lot of injuries, I'd love to see list management (being reviewed), I'd love to hear everyone open up.
"No one should be saying, 'Yeah, he's going OK because he's the CEO, we've signed him for two years, Adrian Dodoro's OK'. You may as well not have mentioned it.
"If you're going to do one, I think the time has come for people to be honest. Otherwise, you just make the odd change here or there and you don't really get anywhere."
Brasher has gone on record saying that head coach Ben Rutten will be safe despite the review, and with the CEO just signing a new deal, you can be safe in knowing he won't be going anywhere.
Adrian Dodoro is someone that has often come under the spotlight at Essendon in recent times with the Bombers playing a large role in contemporary trade periods, and in more recent times, being a big player on draft night.
David King said last week on SEN that he believes Dodoro has built a "seriously good list" and therefore should be safe in his role.
While that point is up for debate, if Wellman agrees that Dodoro deserves to hold on to his role, then four key figures at the club are already seen as untouchable even before the review actually gets underway
That leaves the assistant coaches that Rutten has brought in to work alongside him. And if the former Crow is still in charge once the review is finished as expected, then you'd assume he would want his assistants to be there with him.
It also leaves footy manager Josh Mahoney who was secured from Melbourne at the end of 2020. Mahoney is very highly regarded at the Hangar and it would be a shock if he were to depart.
This isn't to say that the names above aren't the right people for the job, more so that the review may not be undertaking the same powerful wind of change as some that have come before it.
It also speaks to the difficult job Wellman, Sheedy and Madden have ahead of them if tough decisions need to be made.
Brasher did say to members that the changes weren't likely to be ones of heads rolling but with more focus being placed on where the Bombers can improve upon what they already have.
"We are looking at every element of the football program," Brasher said,"
"The actions that come out of this review are likely to be incremental in terms of additional resources, rather than transformational."
The Bombers take on Carlton this weekend in their 150th-anniversary celebration with the club's gala event taking place the following night.
