Riggsy: The Interim Question Essendon Can’t Escape

There is a very specific kind of Essendon supporter — and I am absolutely one of them — who hears the phrase “I haven’t really thought about it” from someone in a position of authority at the club and immediately starts stress-eating a meat pie. We have, as a tribe, been conditioned by decades of drama to know that when someone at Windy Hill says they haven’t thought about something, they have almost certainly thought about nothing else for three weeks.

So when Essendon’s interim senior coach fronted the media and offered that now-famous line about the permanent coaching role — still haven’t thought about it, still just focused on the job at hand — I did what any self-respecting Bomber would do. I put the kettle on, found my lucky scarf, and tried to work out whether this was refreshingly honest or the most expertly constructed bit of deflection since, well, since the last time someone at our football club said something that turned out to mean the exact opposite.

The Honest Answer Might Actually Be the Honest Answer

Here’s a thought that should not be as radical as it sounds: maybe he genuinely hasn’t thought about it yet. I know, I know. Stick with me.

When you are dropped into the senior coaching role mid-season — no fanfare, no long preparation, just a tap on the shoulder and a whistle — your world narrows to about a 48-hour window. You are thinking about who is available, who is fit, what your opponent does from a defensive structure, and whether your small forwards are going to win a single contest this week. The idea of sitting back and pondering long-term career ambition requires a kind of mental space that interim coaches simply do not have.

It is entirely plausible, in other words, that the man genuinely has not had a quiet Tuesday afternoon to sit with a coffee and ask himself: do I want this job permanently? That is not evasion. That is the reality of coaching a footy club week to week.

But — and this is a big but, the size of a Jordan De Goey contract extension — he is also going to have to think about it eventually. Because the club is thinking about it. The board is thinking about it. Every rival club’s football department is thinking about it. The entire football media ecosystem, which runs on coaching speculation the way the rest of the world runs on oxygen, is absolutely thinking about it.

What Essendon Actually Wants From the Back Half

Beyond the coaching soap opera — and yes, I am aware that Essendon generating a coaching soap opera is less a surprise and more an inevitability, like summer or a Michael Hurley injury scare — there was something genuinely useful in what the interim said about how the Bombers want to play from here.

The broad message was a familiar one: play on, trust the instincts, don’t freeze when you have the ball in hand. Essendon want their players to be decisive, to push the tempo, and to back their skills rather than looking for the safe exit. In theory, this is exactly the kind of footy a list this talented should be playing. In practice, it is the kind of footy that requires nerve and belief, two things that can be hard to sustain when results have been inconsistent.

There is clearly an appetite at the club to use the back half of the season as a proving ground — not just for individual players, but for a system and a style that might carry them into September and beyond. Whether that means the interim is thinking about September coaching from the box, or someone else is, remains delightfully unclear.

The List Is Good Enough, and That’s the Frustrating Part

I have been doing this long enough — watching Essendon, writing about Essendon, occasionally yelling at my television because of Essendon — to know the difference between a club that is struggling because the list is poor and a club that is struggling because something above the players isn’t quite right.

Right now, I genuinely beleive this Essendon list has the talent to play finals. Zach Merrett remains one of the competition’s elite midfielders when he is at his best. Sam Durham has developed into a genuine first-choice inside presence. The key forward stocks, when healthy, are competitive. The defence, while it has had its wobbles, has the personnel to be solid.

The gap between this group’s ceiling and where they have occasionally found themselves this year is not a talent gap. It is a consistency gap, a belief gap, maybe a clarity gap. And that is precisely why the coaching question matters so much. Players who are uncertain about who is leading them, who is shaping their development, who will be standing at the whiteboard in 2026, do not always play with freedom. They hedge. They look over their shoulder. They take the percentage kick when they should be going over the top.

The Riggsy Guide to Essendon Interim Situations

For those who are new to being an Essendon supporter — welcome, you poor souls, the coffee machine in the social club is broken but the heartbreak is always fresh — here is a brief field guide to how these situations tend to unfold.

• Phase one: The interim says he is focused on the job, not thinking about the future. Everyone nods respectfully.
• Phase two: The interim wins a few games. Suddenly the football media is running “why not keep him on?” columns. FootyTalk, admittedly, will probably run one too.
• Phase three: The club conducts a “thorough process” that involves talking to every coach in Australia, a couple in Europe, and at least one who has been out of the game for six years.
• Phase four: A decision is made. Half the fan base is delighted. The other half immediately starts a petition.
• Phase five: Repeat in approximately 18 months.

I say all of this with genuine affection, mostly because I have been through enough Essendon cycles to find the whole thing darkly funny rather than enraging. We are a club that does everything the hard way, and somehow that only makes you love us more.

What the Club Actually Needs to Do

Here is my actual, non-sarcastic take: Essendon needs to give their players certainty before the season is out. Not a rushed decision, not a panic appointment, but a clear timeline. If the interim is going to be considered for the role, say so. If the club is running a full external process, say so. Let the players know what the plan is.

The best thing that could come out of this back half of the season is not just a few wins — though I will take them gratefully, thank you — but a group of players who finish the year playing with genuine conviction in a defined style under a coach they believe in. That is the foundation for something real in 2026.

Whether that coach is the current interim, an external appointment, or someone else entirely, the football club’s first job is to get the decision right and then communicate it clearly. We have had enough vague messaging at Essendon over the years to know that uncertainty is not a strategy. It is just expensive fog.

The Bottom Line From Windy Hill

“Still haven’t thought about it” is a perfectly fine thing to say in week two of an interim appointment. It starts to become a problem in week ten. Right now, we are somewhere in the middle, which means the clock is ticking without being deafening.

My honest read? The interim coach is doing a decent job of keeping a complicated situation steady. The football he wants to play is the right football. The group is capable of delivering it. What happens at the end of the year will define the next chapter of this club — and after everything Essendon has been through, we deserve a chapter with a bit of clarity in it.

But knowing us, we’ll probably find a way to make even that interesting. At Essendon, we always do.